rice

/ɹaɪs/

//ɹaɪs// noun

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

"rice" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“rice” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #2,758. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,758
frequency rank, English
3,094
“R” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Cereal plants, Oryza sativa of the grass family whose seeds are used as food.

Corpus desk

Index EN-rice · rice · English

rice · rank #2,758 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,758
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,094
  • PHOTO-FINISH retail

Nearest frequency peer: retail (-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 “rice”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “rice” 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).

rice vs rid
50% similar
rice vs Rio
25% similar
rice vs rip
50% similar

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

Key facts for rice
PropertyValue
Headwordrice
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɹaɪs/
Letters4
Frequency rank#2,758
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “rice”

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).ricelands 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 “retail” (#2,757), “roads” (#2,759), “resistance” (#2,756). Among 3,094 “R” headwords, “rice” is #2,758. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around rice (IPA /ɹaɪs/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #2,758 among 3,094 “R” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for rice, with forms such as "irce", "rcie", and "ricce". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "rid", "Rio", "rip", 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 rys, from Old French ris, from Old Italian riso, risi, from Byzantine Greek ὄρυζα (óruza), from an Eastern Iranian language related to Middle Persian blnc (*brinǰ), Northern Kurdish riz (beyond Euphrates) and Zazaki riz. Theorized to com… The correct English form is rice, spelled R-I-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Cereal plants, Oryza sativa of the grass family whose seeds are used as food.
  2. 2
    A specific variety of this plant.
  3. 3
    The seeds of this plant used as food.
  4. 4
    The types of automobile modifications characteristic of a rice burner.
  5. 5
    An instance of customization of a user interface.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Rice is a tropical plant; yet Carolina and Georgia grow the finest in the world; heavier grained, better filled, and more merchantable, than any imported into Europe from the Indies.
  2. Drought stress causes yield reductions and sometimes total crop failures in rainfed rice areas of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Etymology

From Middle English rys, from Old French ris, from Old Italian riso, risi, from Byzantine Greek ὄρυζα (óruza), from an Eastern Iranian language related to Middle Persian blnc (*brinǰ), Northern Kurdish riz (beyond Euphrates) and Zazaki riz. Theorized to come to Iranian languages from Sanskrit व्रीहि (vrīhi). Prior to Sanskrit, it is speculated to be possibly a borrowing from a Dravidian language (compare Proto-Dravidian *wariñci (“rice”)), or from Austroasiatic languages further east. Alternatively Byzantine Greek ὄρυζα (óruza) is said to be from Hebrew אורז (órez), from South Arabian areez ultimately from Old Tamil 𑀅𑀭𑀺𑀘𑀺 (arici). Doublet of arroz.

This word in other languages

arroz(Español)riz(Français)Reis(Deutsch)arroz(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • irce
  • rcie
  • ricce
  • riec
  • rrice

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

irce2rcie2ricce1riec2rrice1
Edit distance from "rice"

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 "rice"?
"rice" is spelled R-I-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ɹaɪs/.
What does "rice" mean?
As a noun, "rice" means: Cereal plants, Oryza sativa of the grass family whose seeds are used as food.
What words are commonly confused with "rice"?
"rice" is commonly confused with "rid", "Rio", "rip". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "rice"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "rice" is /ɹaɪs/. 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 "rice"?
From Middle English rys, from Old French ris, from Old Italian riso, risi, from Byzantine Greek ὄρυζα (óruza), from an Eastern Iranian language related to Middle Persian blnc (*brinǰ), Northern Kurdish riz (beyond Euphrates) and Zazaki riz. Theori... 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 "rice", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

roof#2,760matt#2,744mate#2,743calm#2,777

Similar misspelling depth

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

error5 variantshe'll5 variantshide5 variantsquit5 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list