glade

/ɡleɪd/

//ɡleɪd// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"glade" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“glade” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #37,941. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#37,941
frequency rank, English
2,313
“G” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest.

Corpus desk

Index EN-glade · glade · English

glade · rank #37,941 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #37,941
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,313
  • PHOTO-FINISH Giza

Nearest frequency peer: Giza (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “glade”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “glade” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

glade vs glue
60% similar
glade vs grad
60% similar
glade vs glee
60% similar

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

Key facts for glade
PropertyValue
Headwordglade
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɡleɪd/
Letters5
Frequency rank#37,941
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “glade”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).gladelands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “Giza” (#37,940), “glassy” (#37,942), “gleefully” (#37,943). Among 2,313 “G” headwords, “glade” is #37,941. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around glade (IPA /ɡleɪd/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #37,941 among 2,313 “G” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for glade, with forms such as "galde", "gglade", and "gladde". 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, "glue", "grad", "glee", 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 glade, glode, glede (“a gleam of light, bright space, an open space; an open or cleared space in a forest; a bright patch of sky; a bright surface of snow or ice”), of uncertain origin, perhaps from Old English *glǣd, *glād, related to O… The correct English form is glade, spelled G-L-A-D-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest.
  2. 2
    An everglade.
  3. 3
    An open space in the ice on a river or lake.
  4. 4
    A bright surface of ice or snow.
  5. 5
    A gleam of light.
  6. 6
    A bright patch of sky; the bright space between clouds.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how glade appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. […] are creating more "glades," or cleared trails through the woods, for less experienced (blue) skiers. They're a throwback to the first days of skiing, before resorts cut wide swaths of trees, and machines rolled and packed the snow.
  2. […] and meads and glades so eternally vernal, that the grass shot up by the spring, untrodden, unwilted, remains at midsummer.

Etymology

From Middle English glade, glode, glede (“a gleam of light, bright space, an open space; an open or cleared space in a forest; a bright patch of sky; a bright surface of snow or ice”), of uncertain origin, perhaps from Old English *glǣd, *glād, related to Old English glæd (“shining, bright”), (compare Old Norse glaðr (“bright”)).

This word in other languages

claro(Español)clairière(Français)Lichtung(Deutsch)clareira(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • galde
  • gglade
  • gladde
  • glaed
  • gldae
  • gllade
  • lgade

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of glade - 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.

galde2gglade1gladde1glaed2gldae2gllade1lgade2
Edit distance from "glade"

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 "glade"?
"glade" is spelled G-L-A-D-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ɡleɪd/.
What does "glade" mean?
As a noun, "glade" means: An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest.
What words are commonly confused with "glade"?
"glade" is commonly confused with "glue", "grad", "glee". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "glade"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "glade" is /ɡleɪd/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "glade"?
From Middle English glade, glode, glede (“a gleam of light, bright space, an open space; an open or cleared space in a forest; a bright patch of sky; a bright surface of snow or ice”), of uncertain origin, perhaps from Old English *glǣd, *glād, re... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "glade", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Frans#37,934gulch#37,953Hausa#37,964Hawes#37,965

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

hiker7 variantsender7 variantshummer7 variantsjoshi7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list