Which to use
“radish” and “radius” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,122
- “radish” frequency rank
- #8,847
- “radius” frequency rank
- 46969
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | radish | radius |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A plant of the Brassicaceae family, Raphanus sativus or Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. sativus, having an edible root. | The long bone in the forearm, on the side of the thumb. |
Where the eye mixes radish and radius
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: radish vs radius
A purely visual mix-up. radish (/ˈɹad.ɪʃ/) and radius (/ˈɹeɪ.di.əs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46969, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
radish is recorded at frequency rank #38,122, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹad.ɪʃ/. radius is at rank #8,847, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹeɪ.di.əs/.
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 46969, this pair ranks #206,809 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of radish vs radius
Shared letters: adirs. Private to "radish": h. Private to "radius": u.
"radish" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "radius" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "radish" and "radius" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "radish" or "radius" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "radish" 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 #206,809 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "radish" and "radius" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "radish vs Rajesh". 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 #206,809 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.