r
/ɑɹ/letter, number, verb, determiner
r is spelled R: one letter and one syllable. It appears 224 times per million words in written English, the 447th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a letter, r means “The eighteenth letter of the English alphabet, called ar and written in the Latin script” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in r?
| Letters | 1: R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 224 times per million words; the 447th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is r?
R appears 224 times per million words in written English, the 447th 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).
How do you pronounce r?
- UK /ɑː(ɹ)/
- US /ɑɹ/
- /ɔːɹ/
R 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-are.wav, En-us-are.ogg, En-uk-r.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with r
Sounds like: ah (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with r?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as r from its last stressed vowel (/ɑɹ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
What does r mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
letter
- 1
The eighteenth letter of the English alphabet, called ar and written in the Latin script.
number
- 1
The eighteenth numeral symbol of the English alphabet, called ar and written in the Latin script.
letter
- 1
The eighteenth letter of the English alphabet, called ar and written in the Latin script.
number
- 1
The eighteenth numeral symbol of the English alphabet, called ar and written in the Latin script.
noun
- 1
Symbol for reverse (“gear setting”).
- 2
Symbol for radius.
- 3
USAbbreviation of Republican, especially preceding the constituent location.
R-Texas
- 4
Abbreviation of Rex (“King”) or Regina (“Queen”), the initial by which a British monarch signs documents after his or her name.
- 5
The Crown, the government of a monarchy.
The English case of R v R [1992] AC 599 ruled that rape can be committed by a husband against his wife.
- 6
Abbreviation of ring.
- 7
Abbreviation of rook.
- 8
Abbreviation of run(s); the statistic reporting the number of runs scored by a player.
adjective
- 1
Abbreviation of restricted.
- 2
Abbreviation of reverse.
- 3
Abbreviation of right (as opposed to left).
verb
- 1
Abbreviation of are.
How r u
determiner
- 1
Abbreviation of our.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does r come from?
Old English lower case letter r, from 7th century replacement by Latin lower case r of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letter ᚱ.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).