drear
/dɹɪə/
"drear" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“drear” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dreary.
Corpus desk
Index EN-drear · drear · English
drear · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | drear |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /dɹɪə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “drear” in English
Rare enough to double-check
drear is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /dɹɪə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Dreary.".
drear has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Shortening of dreary. The correct English form is drear, spelled D-R-E-A-R.
Definition
- 1Dreary.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how drear appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Earth raised up her head From the darkness dread and drear,
I spoke, perplexed by something in the signs Of desolation I had seen and heard In this drear pilgrimage to ruined shrines:
Etymology
Shortening of dreary.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.