ere

/ɛə/

//ɛə// adv

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

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

The verdict

“ere” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #24,153) as an adverb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#24,153
frequency rank, English
2,246
“E” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - At an earlier time.

Corpus desk

Index EN-ere · ere · English

ere · rank #24,153 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #24,153
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,246
  • PHOTO-FINISH effortless

Nearest frequency peer: effortless (-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 “ere”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “ere” 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).

ere vs ex
33% similar
ere vs et
33% similar
ere vs EU
0% similar

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

Key facts for ere
PropertyValue
Headwordere
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
IPA/ɛə/
Letters3
Frequency rank#24,153
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “ere”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).erelands 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 “effortless” (#24,152), “eyeshadow” (#24,154), “dwarves” (#24,151). Among 2,246 “E” headwords, “ere” is #24,153. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for ere is neighbouring look-alikes ("ex", "et", …), not just typos; it is anadverb pronounced /ɛə/. Frequency #24,153 among 2,246 “E” headwords. Gloss: "At an earlier time.".

ere has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ex", "et", "EU", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English er, from Old English ǣr (adverb, conjunction, and preposition), from Proto-West Germanic *airi, from Proto-Germanic *airiz, comparative of Proto-Germanic *airi (“early”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éyeri (“day, morning”) (compare Avesta… The correct English form is ere, spelled E-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    At an earlier time.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Thys is he of whome I ſpake / he that cõmeth after me / was befoꝛe me be cauſe he was yer thẽ I.

Etymology

From Middle English er, from Old English ǣr (adverb, conjunction, and preposition), from Proto-West Germanic *airi, from Proto-Germanic *airiz, comparative of Proto-Germanic *airi (“early”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éyeri (“day, morning”) (compare Avestan 𐬀𐬫𐬀𐬭 (ayar, “day”), Gk. ἠέριος (ēérios, “at daybreak”), see also era, Albanian herët (“early in the morning, at daybreak”) ). The adverb erstwhile retains the Old English superlative ǣrest (“earliest”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian eer (“before”), Dutch eer (“before, sooner than”), German ehe (“before”).

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 "ere"?
"ere" is spelled E-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ɛə/.
What does "ere" mean?
As an adverb, "ere" means: At an earlier time.
What words are commonly confused with "ere"?
"ere" is commonly confused with "ex", "et", "EU". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ere"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ere" is /ɛə/. 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 "ere"?
From Middle English er, from Old English ǣr (adverb, conjunction, and preposition), from Proto-West Germanic *airi, from Proto-Germanic *airiz, comparative of Proto-Germanic *airi (“early”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éyeri (“day, morning”) (comp... 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 "ere", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

DSM#24,148DPS#24,147FSA#24,161dak#24,134

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list