ear

/ˈɪə̯/

//ˈɪə̯// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"ear" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“ear” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #3,425) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#3,425
frequency rank, English
2,246
“E” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna or auricle, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea.

Corpus desk

Index EN-ear · ear · English

ear · rank #3,425 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,425
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,246
  • PHOTO-FINISH drinks

Nearest frequency peer: drinks (-1 rank slots)

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.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “ear”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “ear” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

ear vs ex
33% similar
ear vs ed
33% similar
ear vs et
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for ear
PropertyValue
Headwordear
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈɪə̯/
Letters3
Frequency rank#3,425
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “ear”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).earlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “drinks” (#3,424), “electricity” (#3,426), “desk” (#3,423). Among 2,246 “E” headwords, “ear” is #3,425. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for ear is neighbouring look-alikes ("ex", "ed", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /ˈɪə̯/. Frequency #3,425 among 2,246 “E” headwords. 12 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for ear, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ex", "ed", "et", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws Proto-Germanic *ausô Proto-West Germanic *auʀā Old English ēare Middle English ere English ear From Middle English ere, eare, from Old English ēare (“ear”), from Pr… The correct English form is ear, spelled E-A-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna or auricle, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea.
  2. 2
    The external part of the organ of hearing, the auricle.
  3. 3
    A police informant.
  4. 4
    The sense of hearing; the perception of sounds; skill or good taste in listening to music.
  5. 5
    The privilege of being kindly heard; favour; attention.
  6. 6
    That which resembles in shape or position the ear of an animal; a prominence or projection on an object, usually for support or attachment; a lug; a handle; a foot-rest or step of a spade or a similar digging tool.
  7. 7
    An acroterium.
  8. 8
    A crossette.
  9. 9
    A space to the left or right of a publication's front-page title, used for advertising, weather, etc.
  10. 10
    A curled ridge in the crust of a loaf of bread where the dough was slashed before going into the oven and expands during baking.
  11. 11
    The outer panels or flaps (protrusions) of a diaper upon which the fasteners are located, which are fastened around the wearer's waist.
  12. 12
    A path whose endpoints may coincide but in which otherwise there are no repetitions of vertices or edges.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how ear appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.
  2. No I'm not kidding, and if you don't give it to me I'll let it out that you’re an ear.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws Proto-Germanic *ausô Proto-West Germanic *auʀā Old English ēare Middle English ere English ear From Middle English ere, eare, from Old English ēare (“ear”), from Proto-West Germanic *auʀā, from the voiced Verner alternant of Proto-Germanic *ausô (“ear”) (compare Scots ere, er, eir, West Frisian ear, Dutch oor, German Ohr, Swedish öra, Danish øre), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws (compare Old Irish áu, Latin auris, Lithuanian ausi̇̀s, Russian у́хо (úxo), Albanian vesh, Ancient Greek οὖς (oûs), and Old Armenian ունկն (unkn).

Synonyms

earearballKing Learlistenerlugshell-like

This word in other languages

oído(Español)oreille(Français)Ohr(Deutsch)ouvido(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ear"?
"ear" is spelled E-A-R. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈɪə̯/.
What does "ear" mean?
As a noun, "ear" means: The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna or auricle, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea.
What words are commonly confused with "ear"?
"ear" is commonly confused with "ex", "ed", "et". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ear"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ear" is /ˈɪə̯/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "ear"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws Proto-Germanic *ausô Proto-West Germanic *auʀā Old English ēare Middle English ere English ear From Middle English ere, eare, from Old English ēare (“ear”... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ear", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

FBI#3,429gym#3,431tag#3,397kit#3,505

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list