Which to use
“yea” is an adverb and “yearn” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,645
- “yea” frequency rank
- #30,293
- “yearn” frequency rank
- 34938
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | yea | yearn |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Yes, indeed. | To have a strong desire for something or to do something; to long for or to do something. |
Where the eye mixes yea and yearn
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. yea runs 3 letters (VVV) against yearn's 5 (VVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between yea and yearn
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: yea is /jeɪ/ while yearn is /jɜːn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “yea” sits inside “yearn”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34938, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
yea is recorded at frequency rank #4,645, classified as anadv, pronounced /jeɪ/. yearn is at rank #30,293, tagged as averb, pronounced /jɜːn/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 34938, this pair ranks #316,341 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of yea vs yearn
Shared letters: aey. Private to "yea": -. Private to "yearn": nr.
"yea" · 3 letters · shape VVV · "yearn" · 5 letters · shape VVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- yearn ← eyarn · yaern · yeanr · yearnn · yearrn · yeran · yyearn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "yea" for "yearn" ever safe?
Frequency check: "yea" vs "yearn" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "yea" and "yearn" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "yea" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "yearn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #316,341 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "yea" and "yearn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "yar vs yearn". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #316,341 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.