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right

UK /ɹaɪt/adjective, adverb, interjection, noun, verb

right is spelled R-I-G-H-T. The wrong spelling people search most is rigth: about 80 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 83 of all searches for the word. Right is an adjective meaning “Designating the side of the body which is positioned to the east if one is facing north, the side on which…”.

How many letters and syllables are in right?

Letters5: R-I-G-H-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing912 times per million words; the 117th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, rigth, about 80 Bing searches a month (all of them)
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
Same letters

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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How do you spell right?

Right is spelled R-I-G-H-T. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 83 of the searches for right in either form.

rightthe right spelling6,580 searches a month
rigthh and t swapped80 searches a month

Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.

How common is right?

Right appears 912 times per million words in written English, the 117th 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 right?

  • UK /ɹaɪt/
  • UK [ɹaɪt]
  • British /ɹɑjt/

Right 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: En-uk-right.ogg, En-us-right.ogg, En-au-right.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with right

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

right vs rite1,000 G
right vs wright720 G
right vs write170 G

Sounds like: rite, wright, write (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: yeah right.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with right?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as right from its last stressed vowel (/aɪt/, British pronunciation):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: girth.

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).

Forms of right

  • further right comparative
  • farther right comparative
  • more right comparative
  • righter comparative
  • furthest right superlative
  • farthest right superlative
  • most right superlative
  • rightmost superlative
  • rightest superlative
  • reight
  • reet
  • rite informal
  • rights plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • righting participle, present
  • righted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does right mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Designating the side of the body which is positioned to the east if one is facing north, the side on which the heart is not located in most humans. This arrow points to the reader's right: →

    Near-synonym: starboard

  2. 2

    Clockwise, particularly when describing a change in direction or orientation.

    The road up ahead contains a right bend.

  3. 3

    Complying with justice, correctness, or reason; correct, just, true. See also the interjection senses below.

    That's not the right thing to do.

  4. 4

    Appropriate, perfectly suitable; fit for purpose.

    Is this the right software for my computer?

  5. 5

    Healthy, sane, competent.

    I'm afraid my father is no longer in his right mind.

  6. 6

    Real; veritable (used emphatically).

    You've made a right mess of the kitchen!

  7. 7

    Of an angle, measuring 90 degrees, or one quarter of a complete rotation; the angle between two perpendicular lines.

    The kitchen counter formed a right angle with the back wall.

  8. 8

    Of a geometric figure, incorporating a right angle between edges, faces, axes, etc.

    a right triangle   a right prism   a right cone

adverb

  1. 1

    On the right side.

  2. 2

    Towards the right side.

  3. 3

    Exactly, precisely.

    The arrow landed right in the middle of the target.

  4. 4

    Immediately, directly.

    Can't you see it? It's right beside you!

  5. 5

    UKUSVery, extremely, quite.

    I made a right stupid mistake there, didn't I?

  6. 6

    UKUSdatedTo a great extent or degree.

    Sir, I am right glad to meet you …

  7. 7

    According to fact or truth; actually; truly; really.

  8. 8

    In a correct or proper manner.

    Do it right or don't do it at all.

interjection

  1. 1

    Yes, that is correct; I agree.

    Tell her you’re here. Right. Thanks, Pete.

  2. 2

    I have listened to what you just said and I acknowledge your assertion or opinion, regardless of whether I agree with it (opinion) or can verify it (assertion).

    – United's the best team in the country, so they'll come up with something. – Right. And do you think they'll go all the way?

  3. 3

    Signpost word to change the subject in a discussion or discourse.

    – After that interview, I don't think we should hire her. – Right. Who wants lunch?

  4. 4

    Used to check listener engagement and (especially) agreement at the end of an utterance or each segment thereof.

    You're going, right?

  5. 5

    Used to add seriousness or decisiveness before a statement.

noun

  1. 1

    That which complies with justice, law or reason.

    We're on the side of right in this contest.

  2. 2

    A legal, just or moral entitlement.

    You have no right to go through my personal diary.

  3. 3

    The right side or direction.

    The pharmacy is just on the right past the bookshop.

  4. 4

    The right hand or fist.

  5. 5

    The authority to perform, publish, film, or televise a particular work, event, etc.; a copyright.

  6. 6

    The ensemble of right-wing political parties; political conservatives as a group.

    The political right holds too much power.

  7. 7

    The outward or most finished surface, as of a coin, piece of cloth, a carpet, etc.

  8. 8

    A wave breaking from right to left (viewed from the shore).

verb

  1. 1

    To correct.

    Righting all the wrongs of the war immediately will be impossible.

  2. 2

    To set upright.

    The tow-truck righted what was left of the automobile.

  3. 3

    To return to normal upright position.

    When the wind died down, the ship righted.

  4. 4

    To do justice to; to relieve from wrong; to restore rights to; to assert or regain the rights of.

    to right the oppressed

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate right?

Wiktionary records 5 abbreviations of right: R, RAE, RAK, r., rt.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Right in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdroit (of direction, opposite of left), correct, juste, bon (complying with justice, correct – see also be…), à droite (on the right side), d'accord (yes, that is correct; I agree)
Germanrecht (of direction, opposite of left), richtig (complying with justice, correct – see also be…), rechts (on the right side), in Ordnung (healthy, sane, competent – see also healthy…), nach rechts (towards the right side), ganz (exactly)
Portuguesedireito (of direction, opposite of left), correto, justo, certo (complying with justice, correct – see also be…), à direita (on the right side), bem (exactly)
Spanishderecho, diestra (of direction, opposite of left), correcto, justo (complying with justice, correct – see also be…), a la derecha (on the right side), sano (healthy, sane, competent – see also healthy…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does right come from?

From Middle English reȝt, right, righte, riht, riȝt, riȝte, ryght, ryȝt, from Old English reht, reoht, rieht, riht, ryht (“right,” also the word for “straight” and “direct”), from Proto-West Germanic *reht, from Proto-Germanic *rehtaz (“right, straight; just, morally upright”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵtós (“right, straightened”), from *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten; to righten”). The Germanic adjective which has been used also as a noun since the common Germanic period.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after right