lend an ear
"lend-an-ear" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lend an ear” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To listen to someone.
Corpus desk
Index EN-lend-an-ear · lend an ear · English
lend an ear · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "L" 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 | lend an ear |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “lend an ear” in English
Rare enough to double-check
lend an ear is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To listen to someone.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for lend an ear, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is lend an ear, spelled L-E-N-D- -A-N- -E-A-R.
Definition
- 1To listen to someone.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how lend an ear appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears: / I come to bury Cæſar, not to praiſe him:
I need an easy friend I do, with an ear to lend I do think you fit this shoe I do, but you have a clue
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.