rad

/ɹæd/

//ɹæd// adj

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

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

The verdict

“rad” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #15,039) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#15,039
frequency rank, English
3,094
“R” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Clipping of radical (“excellent”).

Corpus desk

Index EN-rad · rad · English

rad · rank #15,039 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #15,039
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,094
  • PHOTO-FINISH punishing

Nearest frequency peer: punishing (-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.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “rad”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “rad” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

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).

rad vs re
33% similar
rad vs RS
0% similar
rad vs rd
67% similar

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

Key facts for rad
PropertyValue
Headwordrad
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ɹæd/
Letters3
Frequency rank#15,039
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “rad”

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).radlands 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 “punishing” (#15,038), “pulmonary” (#15,037), “raspberry” (#15,041). Among 3,094 “R” headwords, “rad” is #15,039. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for rad is neighbouring look-alikes ("re", "RS", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced /ɹæd/. Frequency #15,039 among 3,094 “R” headwords. Gloss: "Clipping of radical (“excellent”).".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for rad, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "re", "RS", "rd", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is rad, spelled R-A-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Clipping of radical (“excellent”).

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. In the Guinness Book of World-fucking-Records, man… under "Raddest Fucking Dude Alive"!
  2. What is up, girly-friend? Holy shit, cuz. This is such a rad surprise.

This word in other languages

krass(Deutsch)

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 "rad"?
"rad" is spelled R-A-D. The IPA pronunciation is /ɹæd/.
What does "rad" mean?
As an adjective, "rad" means: Clipping of radical (“excellent”).
What words are commonly confused with "rad"?
"rad" is commonly confused with "re", "RS", "rd". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "rad"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "rad" is /ɹæd/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "rad" come from?
"rad" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "rad", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

SMH#15,062tai#15,073moe#15,003tug#15,079

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list