Ra

\ʁa\

/\ʁa\/ name

The verdict

“Ra” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #11,648) as a proper noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#11,648
frequency rank, French
507,453
“R” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Autre transcription de Rê (dieu Soleil de la mythologie égyptienne).

Corpus desk

Index FR-ra · Ra · French

Ra · rank #11,648 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #11,648
  • LEN-SHORT 2 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 507,453
  • PHOTO-FINISH pureté

Nearest frequency peer: pureté (-1 rank slots)

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 “Ra”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “Ra” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of May 6, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

Ra vs Re
50% similar
Ra vs Rh
50% similar
Ra vs RT
50% similar

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

Key facts for Ra
PropertyValue
HeadwordRa
LanguageFrench
Part of speechProper noun
IPA\ʁa\
Letters2
Frequency rank#11,648
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “Ra” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). Ra lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for Ra is neighbouring look-alikes ("Re", "Rh", …), not just typos; it is aproper noun pronounced \ʁa\. Frequency #11,648 among 507,453 “R” headwords. Gloss: "Autre transcription de Rê (dieu Soleil de la mythologie égyptienne).".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for Ra, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Re", "Rh", "RT", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is Ra, spelled R-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Autre transcription de Rê (dieu Soleil de la mythologie égyptienne).

This word in other languages

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 French 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

How do you spell "Ra"?
"Ra" is spelled R-A. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁa\.
What does "Ra" mean?
As a proper noun, "Ra" means: Autre transcription de Rê (dieu Soleil de la mythologie égyptienne).
What words are commonly confused with "Ra"?
"Ra" is commonly confused with "Re", "Rh", "RT". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Ra"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Ra" is \ʁa\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Ra" come from?
"Ra" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list