Tear and tare are homophones in one pronunciation — they can sound the same but mean completely different things.
Tear relates to ripping something apart or the fluid that comes from your eyes, while tare is a technical measurement term used in weighing, shipping, and cooking. Knowing which to use requires understanding both words clearly.
This guide breaks down the difference between tear and tare, the fascinating double pronunciation of tear, and when each word applies.
What Does Tear Mean?
Tear is one of English’s most interesting words — it has two completely different pronunciations that signal two different meanings, even though the spelling is identical in both cases.
Tear (rhymes with “air”) — The Verb
Pronounced /tɛr/ — tear as a verb means to rip, pull apart, or split something by force. It describes the act of separating material — paper, fabric, skin — through forceful pulling or tearing.
Example: “Be careful not to tear the wrapping paper — it’s delicate.”
Common verb uses:
- “She tore the letter in half without reading it.”
- “He accidentally tore a hole in his shirt on the fence.”
- “Tear the bread into small pieces before adding it to the salad.”
Related forms:
- Tear (present) → Tore (past) → Torn (past participle)
- “She tears paper easily.” / “She tore it yesterday.” / “It was torn in two.”
Tear (rhymes with “ear”) — The Noun for Crying
Pronounced /tɪər/ — tear as a noun (in the crying sense) refers to the saline fluid produced by the eyes — in response to emotion, irritation, or physical pain.
Example: “A single tear rolled down her cheek when she heard the news.”
Common noun uses:
- “He fought back tears during the memorial service.”
- “The onion brought tears to everyone’s eyes.”
- “She wiped her tears and took a deep breath.”
Tear — The Noun for a Rip
Pronounced /tɛr/ (same as the verb) — tear also functions as a noun meaning a rip, hole, or split in a material.
Example: “There’s a tear in the fabric along the seam.”
Summary of Tear’s Uses
This makes tear one of a small group of English heteronyms — words spelled the same but pronounced differently with different meanings.
What Does Tare Mean?
Tare is a technical term primarily used in weighing, shipping, cooking, and retail. It refers specifically to the weight of an empty container or packaging — separate from the weight of its contents.
Pronunciation: /tɛr/ — rhymes with air, same as the ripping sense of tear. They are true homophones in this pronunciation.
Tare as a Noun — Container Weight
As a noun, tare refers to the weight of an empty container, packaging, vehicle, or vessel that must be accounted for when measuring the weight of goods inside it.
The tare weight is subtracted from the gross weight (total weight of container + contents) to arrive at the net weight (actual weight of the contents alone).
Example: “The tare weight of the crate is 5 kilograms — subtract that from the gross to find the actual product weight.”
The three weights in shipping and logistics:
Tare as a Verb — Zeroing a Scale
As a verb, tare (or more commonly “tare the scale”) means to reset a scale to zero after placing an empty container on it — so that subsequent measurements reflect only the weight of what is added, not the container itself.
Example: “Place the bowl on the scale, press the tare button, then add your ingredients.”
This function appears on virtually every modern kitchen scale, laboratory scale, and commercial weighing device — the Tare button is one of the most commonly used features in cooking and food preparation.
Common tare uses:
Tear vs Tare — The Key Differences
Tare — The Biblical Plant
Tare also appears in an older, biblical context — referring to a weed that grows among wheat crops. In the Parable of the Tares (Matthew 13), Jesus describes workers who ask whether to pull up tares growing among wheat — and are told to let both grow until harvest.
In modern agricultural and botanical language, the tare weed is also known as darnel (Lolium temulentum) — a ryegrass species that closely resembles wheat in its early stages of growth.
Example: “The tares were so similar to the wheat that workers could not distinguish them until harvest.”
This meaning of tare is largely archaic in everyday speech but remains important in biblical scholarship and agricultural history.
How to Keep Tear and Tare Straight
Memory trick 1 — The “a” in tare: Tare has an a — like scale and weight. Think: tare → the scale’s “a” setting.
Memory trick 2 — Pronunciation as a guide:
- If you are saying /tɪər/ (rhymes with ear) — you mean tear (crying). Ear → tear → crying. 👁️
- If you are saying /tɛr/ (rhymes with air) — it is either tear (ripping) or tare (weight). Context tells you which.
Memory trick 3 — Technical context: If the word appears near a scale, container, shipping document, or recipe — it is almost certainly tare. Any other context — tear.
Common Mistakes to Avoid – Tear vs Tare
FAQs — Tear vs Tare
When to use tear or tare?
Use tear when describing ripping something apart (verb), a hole in material (noun), or eye fluid from crying (noun). Use tare when referring to the weight of an empty container or the function that zeros a scale. The context — ripping/crying vs weighing — always makes the correct word clear.
What is a tare in the material?
If you see “tare in the material,” it is almost certainly a misspelling of tear — meaning a rip or hole in a fabric or surface. Tare refers to weight measurement, not physical damage to material. The correct phrase is “a tear in the material.”
How do I spell “tear” as in crying?
The word for the fluid that comes from your eyes when crying is spelled tear — the same as the word for ripping. The difference is in pronunciation — tears from crying are pronounced /tɪər/ (rhymes with ear), while tears from ripping are pronounced /tɛr/ (rhymes with air).
Conclusion
Tear and tare are homophones in one pronunciation — but they live in completely different worlds. Tear covers ripping, holes in fabric, and the saline fluid from your eyes. Tare covers empty container weights, shipping logistics, and the zeroing function on a scale.
The context always makes the correct word obvious. If something is being ripped or someone is crying — it is tear. If something is being weighed or a scale is being zeroed — it is tare. Keep those two contexts separate and you will always choose the right word.
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