RadiovsRadiusWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,782
“Radio” frequency rank
#13,918
“Radius” frequency rank
15700
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Radio Radius
Definition ein elektronisches Gerät, mit dem Hörfunkprogramme empfangen werden können, beispielsweise Nachrichten- oder Musikkanäle Abstand der Kreislinie vom Kreismittelpunkt beziehungsweise der Kugeloberfläche vom Mittelpunkt der Kugel

Where the eye mixes Radio and Radius

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Radio
6 ch
Radius

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Radio ([ˈʁaːdi̯o]) and Radius ([ˈʁaːdi̯ʊs]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15700, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Radio is recorded at frequency rank #1,782, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁaːdi̯o]. Radius is at rank #13,918, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁaːdi̯ʊs].

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 15700, this pair ranks #1,941,827 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Radio vs Radius

Shared letters: adir. Private to "Radio": o. Private to "Radius": su.

"Radio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "Radius" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Radioardio · raddio · radoi · raido · rdaio · rradio
  • Radiusardius · raddius · radisu · radiuss · raduis · raidus · rdaius · rradius

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Radio" and "Radius" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁaːdi̯o] versus [ˈʁaːdi̯ʊs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Radio" or "Radius"?
"Radio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,782 in our German list, against #13,918 for "Radius". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Radio" and "Radius". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Radio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Radius" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,941,827 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Radio" and "Radius" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rades vs Radius". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list