ADC

noun

"adc" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“ADC” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #27,709) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#27,709
frequency rank, English
35,202
“A” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Initialism of aide-de-camp and postnominal.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

ADC vs as
0% similar
ADC vs at
0% similar
ADC vs an
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for ADC
PropertyValue
HeadwordADC
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters3
Frequency rank#27,709
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “ADC” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). ADC lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for ADC is neighbouring look-alikes ("as", "at", …), not just typos; it is anoun. Frequency #27,709 among 35,202 “A” headwords. 8 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No misspelling variants are generated for ADC in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "as", "at", "an", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is ADC, spelled A-D-C.

Definition

  1. 1
    Initialism of aide-de-camp and postnominal.
  2. 2
    Initialism of analog-to-digital converter.
  3. 3
    Initialism of aid to dependent children.
  4. 4
    Abbreviation of air defense command or aerospace defense command.
  5. 5
    Abbreviation of air defense center or aerospace defense center.
  6. 6
    Initialism of antibody-drug conjugate.
  7. 7
    Initialism of automatic distance control.
  8. 8
    Initialism of after-death communication.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ADC"?
"ADC" is spelled A-D-C.
What does "ADC" mean?
As a noun, "ADC" means: Initialism of aide-de-camp and postnominal.
What words are commonly confused with "ADC"?
"ADC" is commonly confused with "as", "at", "an". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "ADC" come from?
"ADC" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “ADC”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is A-D-C - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Don't mix it up with “as” - see the side-by-side comparison. ADC vs as
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Words at a similar English frequency

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list