dear vs Dex, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“dear” is an adjective and “Dex” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,457
“dear” frequency rank: #43,878
“Dex” frequency rank: 79335
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dear	Dex
Definition	Cher, chère.	Dieu

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dear and Dex apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

dear

3 ch

Dex

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dear is \ˈdɪɹ\ while Dex is \'de.us\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79335, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dear is recorded at frequency rank #35,457, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈdɪɹ\. Dex is at rank #43,878, tagged as anoun, pronounced \'de.us\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 79335, this pair ranks #23,561 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dear vs Dex

Shared letters: de. Private to "dear": ar. Private to "Dex": x.

"dear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "Dex" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

dear ← ddear · dearr · dera · edar

Frequency comparison

dear#35,457

Dex#43,878

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dear" and "Dex" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dear" is an adjective and "Dex" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "dear" or "Dex"?

"dear" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,457 in our French list, against #43,878 for "Dex". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dear vs Dex

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “dear”; for a noun, it's “Dex”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dear” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable