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PlainSpell

shear

UK /ʃɪə/verb, noun

shear is spelled S-H-E-A-R: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.5 times per million words in written English, the 17,122nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “shear vs sheer” about 2,400 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, shear means “To remove the fleece from (a sheep, llama, etc.) by clipping” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in shear?

Letters5: S-H-E-A-R
Syllables1
In writing2.5 times per million words; the 17,122nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is shear?

Shear appears 2.5 times per million words in written English, the 17,122nd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce shear?

  • UK /ʃɪə/
  • British /ʃɪː/
  • British /ʃɪjə/

Shear has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-sheer.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with shear

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

shear vs sheer2,400 G
share vs shear0 B

Also written: sheer.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with shear?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as shear from its last stressed vowel (/ɪə/, British pronunciation):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: share, asher.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of shear

  • shears present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • shearing participle, present
  • sheared past, participle
  • shore past
  • shorn participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does shear mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To remove the fleece from (a sheep, llama, etc.) by clipping.

    shear the llamas

  2. 2

    To cut the hair of (a person).

    shear the afro off someone's head

  3. 3

    To cut, originally with a sword or other bladed weapon, now usually with shears, or as if using shears.

  4. 4

    To deform because of forces pushing in opposite directions.

  5. 5

    To change in direction or speed.

  6. 6

    To transform by displacing every point in a direction parallel to some given line by a distance proportional to the point’s distance from the line.

  7. 7

    To make a vertical cut in coal.

  8. 8

    (also 'shear off') To break or suddenly separate because of excessive force, eg. a bolt.

noun

  1. 1

    A cutting tool similar to scissors, but often larger.

  2. 2

    A large machine use for cutting sheet metal.

  3. 3

    The act of shearing, or something removed by shearing.

  4. 4

    Forces that push in opposite directions.

  5. 5

    The phenomenon of wind shear.

  6. 6

    A specific instance of wind shear.

    We hit a nasty shear on approach and had to go around.

  7. 7

    A transformation that displaces every point in a direction parallel to some given line by a distance proportional to the point's distance from the line.

  8. 8

    The response of a rock to deformation usually by compressive stress, resulting in particular textures.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Shear in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtondre (to remove the fleece from a sheep), couper (to cut), cisailler (to deform in a fixed direction due to…), cisailles, cisaille, tondeuse (a cutting tool similar to scissors)
Germanscheren (to remove the fleece from a sheep), schneiden (to cut), rasieren, abschneiden (to cut the hair of a person), Scherkraft (a force that produces a shearing strain)
Portuguesetosar, tosquiar (to remove the fleece from a sheep), cortar (to cut), cisalhar (to deform in a fixed direction due to…), tosquiadeira (a cutting tool similar to scissors), poda (the act of shearing, or something removed by…)
Spanishesquilar, tonsurar, tundir (to remove the fleece from a sheep), cizallar, cortar (to cut), cizalla (a cutting tool similar to scissors)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does shear come from?

From Middle English sheren, scheren, from Old English sċieran (“to shear; to shave”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeran, from Proto-Germanic *skeraną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after shear