rat

/ɹæt/

//ɹæt// noun

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

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

The verdict

“rat” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #5,446) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#5,446
frequency rank, English
3,094
“R” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of the numerous members of several rodent families that usually have short limbs, a pointy snout, a long, hairless tail, and a body length greater than about 12 cm, or 5 inches.

Corpus desk

Index EN-rat · rat · English

rat · rank #5,446 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,446
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,094
  • PHOTO-FINISH propaganda

Nearest frequency peer: propaganda (-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 “rat”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “rat” 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).

rat vs re
33% similar
rat vs RS
0% similar
rat vs rd
33% similar

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

Key facts for rat
PropertyValue
Headwordrat
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɹæt/
Letters3
Frequency rank#5,446
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “rat”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).ratlands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “propaganda” (#5,445), “reflection” (#5,447), “placing” (#5,444). Among 3,094 “R” headwords, “rat” is #5,446. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for rat is neighbouring look-alikes ("re", "RS", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /ɹæt/. Frequency #5,446 among 3,094 “R” headwords. 10 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for rat, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. 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.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English ratte, rat, rotte, from Old English rætt, from Proto-West Germanic *ratt, from Proto-Germanic *rattaz, *rattō (compare West Frisian rôt, Dutch rat), of uncertain origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to scrape, scratch, gn… The correct English form is rat, spelled R-A-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any of the numerous members of several rodent families that usually have short limbs, a pointy snout, a long, hairless tail, and a body length greater than about 12 cm, or 5 inches.
  2. 2
    A medium-sized rodent belonging to the genus Rattus.
  3. 3
    A person who is known for betrayal.
  4. 4
    An informant or snitch.
  5. 5
    A scab: a worker who acts against trade union policies.
  6. 6
    A person who routinely spends time at a particular location.
  7. 7
    A wad of shed hair used as part of a hairstyle.
  8. 8
    A roll of material used to puff out the hair, which is turned over it.
  9. 9
    Vagina, vulva.
  10. 10
    Ellipsis of muskrat.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.
  2. Near-synonyms: rouge, scoundrel, snake; see also Thesaurus:villain

Etymology

From Middle English ratte, rat, rotte, from Old English rætt, from Proto-West Germanic *ratt, from Proto-Germanic *rattaz, *rattō (compare West Frisian rôt, Dutch rat), of uncertain origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”). However, the rat may have been unknown in Northern Europe in antiquity, and the Proto-Germanic word may have referred to a different animal; see *rattaz for more. Attestation of this family of words begins in the 12th century. Some of the Germanic cognates show considerable consonant variation, e.g. Middle Low German ratte, radde; Middle High German rate, ratte, ratze. The irregularity may be symptomatic of a late dispersal of the word, although Kroonen accounts for it with a Proto-Germanic stem *raþō nom., *ruttaz gen., showing both ablaut and a Kluge's law alternation, with the variation arising from varying remodellings in the descendants. Kroonen states that this requires a Proto-Indo-European etymon in final *t and is incompatible with the usual derivation from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”).

This word in other languages

rata(Español)rat(Français)Ratte(Deutsch)ratazana(Português)

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 "rat"?
"rat" is spelled R-A-T. The IPA pronunciation is /ɹæt/.
What does "rat" mean?
As a noun, "rat" means: Any of the numerous members of several rodent families that usually have short limbs, a pointy snout, a long, hairless tail, and a body length greater than about 12 cm, or 5 inches.
What words are commonly confused with "rat"?
"rat" 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 "rat"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "rat" is /ɹæt/. 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 "rat"?
From Middle English ratte, rat, rotte, from Old English rætt, from Proto-West Germanic *ratt, from Proto-Germanic *rattaz, *rattō (compare West Frisian rôt, Dutch rat), of uncertain origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to scrape, s... 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 "rat", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

jam#5,426IDK#5,422HIV#5,421ash#5,477

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list