RadvsRadesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Rad” and “Rades” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,146
“Rad” frequency rank
#49,184
“Rades” frequency rank
52330
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Rad Rades
Definition rundes Bauteil, das um seine Achse rotiert Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Rad

Where the eye mixes Rad and Rades

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
Rad
5 ch
Rades

Visual trap between Rad and Rades

A purely visual mix-up. Rad ([ʁaːt]) and Rades ([ˈʁaːdəs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Rad” sits inside “Rades”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52330, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Rad is recorded at frequency rank #3,146, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʁaːt]. Rades is at rank #49,184, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁaːdəs].

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 52330, this pair ranks #1,101,012 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Rad vs Rades

Shared letters: adr. Private to "Rad": -. Private to "Rades": es.

"Rad" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Rades" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Radesardes · raddes · radess · radse · raeds · rdaes · rrades

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Rad" and "Rades" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ʁaːt] versus [ˈʁaːdəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Rad" or "Rades"?
"Rad" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,146 in our German list, against #49,184 for "Rades". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Rad" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Rades" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,101,012 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Rad" and "Rades" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rades vs Ramen". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,101,012 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list