real
/ɹiːl/adjective, adverb, noun
real is an adjective meaning “True, genuine, not merely nominal or apparent” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled R-E-A-L and has one syllable, and it appears 398 times per million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does real mean?
adjective
- 1
True, genuine, not merely nominal or apparent.
City hall has its place, but this pub is the real heart of the town.
- 2
Genuine, not artificial, counterfeit, or fake.
This is real leather.
- 3
Genuine, unfeigned, sincere.
These are real tears!
- 4
Actually being, existing, or occurring; not fictitious or imaginary.
a description of real life
- 5
That has objective, physical existence.
No one has ever seen a real unicorn.
- 6
Having been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation; measured in purchasing power (contrast nominal).
My dad calculated my family's real consumption per month.
- 7
Relating to the result of the actions of rational agents; relating to neoclassical economic models as opposed to Keynesian models.
- 8
Being either a rational number, or the limit of a convergent infinite sequence of rational numbers: being one of a set of numbers with a one-to-one correspondence to the points on a line.
adverb
- 1
UScolloquialReally; very.
When I told him the truth, he got real mad.
noun
- 1
A commodity; see realty.
- 2
One of the three genders that the common gender can be separated into in the Scandinavian languages.
- 3
A real number.
- 4
obsoleteA realist.
- 5
Former unit of currency of Spain and Spain's colonies.
- 6
A coin worth one real.
- 7
A unit of currency used in Portugal and its colonies from 1430 until 1911, and in Brazil from 1790 until 1942.
- 8
A coin worth one real.
- 9
A unit of currency used in Brazil since 1994. Symbol: R$.
- 10
A coin worth one real.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce real?
- UK /ɹiːl/
- UK /ˈɹiː.əl/
- UK /ɹɪl/
As a noun (“Former unit of currency of Spain and Spain's colonies”): /ɹeɪˈɑːl/, /ɹeɪˈɑl/.
Real has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-real.ogg, En-us-real.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-real_(Spanish).wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of real
- realer comparative
- more real comparative
- realest superlative
- most real superlative
- reals plural
- reales plural
- reis plural
- réis plural
- reais plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is real?
Real appears 398 times per million words in written English, the 227th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Words people confuse with real
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: reel (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Real in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | réel, vrai , réal |
| German | wahr, wirklich, echt , Real |
| Portuguese | real, vero, verdadeiro |
| Spanish | real, verdadero, auténtico, vero , gran |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does real come from?
From Middle English real, from Old French reel, from Late Latin reālis (“actual”), from Latin rēs (“matter, thing”), from Proto-Indo-European *reh₁ís (“wealth, goods”). Doublet of realis.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).