adder
/ˈædɚ/
"adder" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“adder” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #41,977 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #41,977
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any snake.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | adder |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈædɚ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #41,977 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “adder” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for adder is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈædɚ/. Corpus data places it at rank #41,977 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for adder, with forms such as "adderr", "addre", and "adedr". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ADR", "adds", "aide", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English nadder, addere, rebracketing of “a naddere” as “an addere”, from Old English nǣdre (“snake”), from Proto-West Germanic *nadrā, from Proto-Germanic *nadrǭ, from pre-Germanic *néh₁treh₂, variant of Proto-Indo-European *n̥h₁trih₂, from *(s)… The correct English form is adder, spelled A-D-D-E-R.
Definition
- 1Any snake.
- 2A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling a viper.
- 3A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling a viper.
- 4A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling a viper.
- 5A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling a viper.
- 6A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling a viper.
- 7A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling a viper.
- 8A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling a viper.
- 9A sea stickleback or adder fish (Spinachia spinachia).
Etymology
From Middle English nadder, addere, rebracketing of “a naddere” as “an addere”, from Old English nǣdre (“snake”), from Proto-West Germanic *nadrā, from Proto-Germanic *nadrǭ, from pre-Germanic *néh₁treh₂, variant of Proto-Indo-European *n̥h₁trih₂, from *(s)neh₁- (“to spin, twist”). See also West Frisian njirre, Dutch adder, German Natter, Otter; also Welsh neidr, Latin natrīx (“watersnake”), Dutch naaien.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: adderr,addre,adedr,ader,dader
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of adder - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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
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Using “adder”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-D-D-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈædɚ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “ADR” - see the side-by-side comparison. adder vs ADR
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.