Master confusing words with ease
Shear vs. Sheer
Shear
/ʃɪə/Examples:
The farmer had to shear the flock before summer.Without the proper tools, trying to shear the sheep became a task.In spring, it's customary to shear the wool from alpacas.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
Sheer
/ʃɪə/Examples:
By sheer audacity.It was sheer jugglery of fate.The first side is, sheer Insolence.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
Ways to tell them apart:
- Shear has an a for action, as it's a verb for cutting or clipping with force.
- Sheer starts with sh like shine, and is often an adjective for things that are so fine or thin they let light through.
- If you have sheer cliffs, think of them as steep and clear, while shear implies they might be cut or eroded away.
- Shear is often associated with sheep as in shearing their wool, while sheer can describe pure or steep conditions.
- Remember that sheer fabric could describe its transparency, whereas shear action might change the fabric's length.
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