rear

/ɹɪɹ/

//ɹɪɹ// verb

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

"rear" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“rear” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #3,449) as a verb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#3,449
frequency rank, English
3,094
“R” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To bring up to maturity, as offspring; to educate; to instruct; to foster.

Corpus desk

Index EN-rear · rear · English

rear · rank #3,449 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,449
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,094
  • PHOTO-FINISH raising

Nearest frequency peer: raising (-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 “rear”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “rear” 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).

rear vs RR
0% similar
rear vs red
50% similar
rear vs rep
50% similar

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

Key facts for rear
PropertyValue
Headwordrear
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ɹɪɹ/
Letters4
Frequency rank#3,449
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “rear”

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).rearlands 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 “raising” (#3,448), “reveal” (#3,450), “pushed” (#3,447). Among 3,094 “R” headwords, “rear” is #3,449. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for rear is neighbouring look-alikes ("RR", "red", …), not just typos; it is averb pronounced /ɹɪɹ/. Frequency #3,449 among 3,094 “R” headwords. 10 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for rear, with forms such as "erar", "rearr", and "rera". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "RR", "red", "rep", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English reren (“to raise”), from Old English rǣran (“to raise, set upright, promote, exalt, begin, create, give rise to, excite, rouse, arouse, stir up”), from Proto-West Germanic *raiʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *raizijaną, *raisijaną (“to cause … The correct English form is rear, spelled R-E-A-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    To bring up to maturity, as offspring; to educate; to instruct; to foster.
  2. 2
    To breed and raise.
  3. 3
    To rise up on the hind legs.
  4. 4
    To get angry.
  5. 5
    To rise high above, tower above.
  6. 6
    To raise physically or metaphorically; to lift up; to cause to rise, to elevate.
  7. 7
    To construct by building; to set up
  8. 8
    To raise spiritually; to lift up; to elevate morally.
  9. 9
    To lift and take up.
  10. 10
    To rouse; to strip up.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. He wants a father to protect his youth, and rear him up to virtue.
  2. The family has been rearing cattle for 200 years.

Etymology

From Middle English reren (“to raise”), from Old English rǣran (“to raise, set upright, promote, exalt, begin, create, give rise to, excite, rouse, arouse, stir up”), from Proto-West Germanic *raiʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *raizijaną, *raisijaną (“to cause to rise, raise”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rey- (“to lift oneself, rise”). Cognate with Scots rere (“to construct, build, rear”), Icelandic reisa (“to raise”), Gothic 𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (raisjan, “to cause to rise, lift up, establish”), German reisen (“to travel”, literally “to rear up and depart”); and a doublet of raise. More at rise. Related to rise and raise, which is used for several of its now archaic or obsolete senses and for some of its senses that are currently more common in other dialects of English.

Synonyms

prance

This word in other languages

erigir(Español)édifier(Français)aufrichten(Deutsch)levantar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • erar
  • rearr
  • rera
  • rrear

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of rear - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

erar2rearr1rera2rrear1
Edit distance from "rear"

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 "rear"?
"rear" is spelled R-E-A-R. The IPA pronunciation is /ɹɪɹ/.
What does "rear" mean?
As a verb, "rear" means: To bring up to maturity, as offspring; to educate; to instruct; to foster.
What words are commonly confused with "rear"?
"rear" is commonly confused with "RR", "red", "rep". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "rear"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "rear" is /ɹɪɹ/. 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 "rear"?
From Middle English reren (“to raise”), from Old English rǣran (“to raise, set upright, promote, exalt, begin, create, give rise to, excite, rouse, arouse, stir up”), from Proto-West Germanic *raiʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *raizijaną, *raisijaną (... 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 "rear", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

wire#3,460Iraq#3,435belt#3,471desk#3,423

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list