roadbed
/ˈɹoʊdˌbɛd/
"roadbed" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“roadbed” is uncommon English (frequency #93,091 among 21,470 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #93,091
- frequency rank, English
- 21,470
- “R” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The prepared location for a road, including its foundation.
Corpus desk
Index EN-roadbed · roadbed · English
roadbed · rank #93,091 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #93,091
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 21,470
- PHOTO-FINISH riverdance
Nearest frequency peer: riverdance (-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 neighbourhood for “roadbed”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- rhombic
rhombic
6,915 corpus weight
- Rijeka
Rijeka
6,913 corpus weight
- ristorante
ristorante
6,912 corpus weight
- riverdance
riverdance
6,911 corpus weight
- roadbed
roadbed
6,910 corpus weight
- Rocklin
Rocklin
6,909 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “roadbed” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | roadbed |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɹoʊdˌbɛd/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #93,091 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “roadbed” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
roadbed is uncommon English at frequency #93,091 among 21,470 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɹoʊdˌbɛd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
roadbed has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From road + bed. The correct English form is roadbed, spelled R-O-A-D-B-E-D.
Definition
- 1The prepared location for a road, including its foundation.
- 2A trackbed.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how roadbed appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Holonym: right of way
The roadbed, much of it fringing Swansea Bay, has been given free to the local authorities.
Etymology
From road + bed.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "roadbed", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.