glad
/ɡlæd/
"glad" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“glad” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,342 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #1,342
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Pleased; happy; gratified.
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 | glad |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ɡlæd/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #1,342 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “glad” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for glad is 4 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɡlæd/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,342 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for glad, with forms such as "gald", "gglad", and "gladd". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "god", "GTA", "GPA", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English glad, gled, from Old English glæd (“shining; bright; cheerful; glad”), from Proto-Germanic *gladaz (“shiny; gleaming; radiant; happy; glossy; smooth; flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰladʰ-, from *ǵʰelh₂- (“to shine”). Cognate with Sco… The correct English form is glad, spelled G-L-A-D.
Definition
- 1Pleased; happy; gratified.
- 2Having a bright or cheerful appearance; expressing or exciting joy; producing gladness.
Etymology
From Middle English glad, gled, from Old English glæd (“shining; bright; cheerful; glad”), from Proto-Germanic *gladaz (“shiny; gleaming; radiant; happy; glossy; smooth; flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰladʰ-, from *ǵʰelh₂- (“to shine”). Cognate with Scots gled, glaid (“shining; bright; glad”), Saterland Frisian glääd (“smooth; sleek”), West Frisian glêd (“smooth”), Dutch glad (“smooth; sleek; slippery”), German glatt (“smooth; sleek; slippery”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish glad (“glad; happy; cheerful”), Icelandic glaður (“glad; joyful; cheery”), Latin glaber (“smooth; hairless; bald”), Russian гла́дкий (gládkij, “smooth”). Doublet of glatt.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: gald,gglad,gladd,glda,gllad,lgad
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of glad - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “glad”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-L-A-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɡlæd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “god” - see the side-by-side comparison. glad vs god
- 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.