radical

\ʁa.di.kal\

/\ʁa.di.kal\/ adj

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

The verdict

“radical” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #6,017. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#6,017
frequency rank, French
5,742
“R” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui vise à agir sur la cause profonde des effets qu’on veut modifier.

Corpus desk

Index FR-radical · radical · French

radical · rank #6,017 · 10 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #6,017
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,742
  • PHOTO-FINISH publiquement

Nearest frequency peer: publiquement (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « radical »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « radical » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

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).

radical vs radicale
88% similar
radical vs radicaux
75% similar
radical vs radicales
78% similar

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

Key facts for radical
PropertyValue
Headwordradical
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ʁa.di.kal\
Letters7
Frequency rank#6,017
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « radical »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).radicalse place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « publiquement » (#6,016), « rater » (#6,018), « prêtres » (#6,015). Parmi 5,742 lemmes en « R », « radical » est au #6,017. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around radical (IPA \ʁa.di.kal\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #6,017 among 5,742 “R” headwords. Wiktionary lists 11 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for radical, with forms such as "ardical", "radcial", and "raddical". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "radicale", "radicaux", "radicales", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is radical, spelled R-A-D-I-C-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui vise à agir sur la cause profonde des effets qu’on veut modifier.
  2. 2
    Ce qui a rapport au principe d’une chose, à son essence.
  3. 3
    Fondamental.
  4. 4
    Qui fait table rase du passé, qui révolutionne.
  5. 5
    Qui est absolu, qui va jusqu’au bout de ses opinions.
  6. 6
    Qui est sans nuances.
  7. 7
    Qui préconise l’application intégrale de certains principes ou qui veut les faire appliquer à tous les aspects de la vie sociale et politique.
  8. 8
    Relatif à un mouvement politique de centre-gauche.
  9. 9
    En rapport avec la racine du mot.
  10. 10
    En rapport avec une racine, carrée ou d'ordre plus grand, d’un nombre.
  11. 11
    Relatif à la racine ; qui s'attache à la racine ; qui ressemble à une racine.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Amélioration radicale.
  2. Réforme radicale.

Synonyms

absoluintransigeantjusqu’au-boutiste

This word in other languages

radical(English)radical(Español)radical(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ardical
  • radcial
  • raddical
  • radiacl
  • radicall
  • radiccal
  • radicla
  • raidcal
  • rdaical
  • rradical

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ardical2radcial2raddical1radiacl2radicall1radiccal1radicla2raidcal2
Edit distance from "radical"

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "radical"?
"radical" is spelled R-A-D-I-C-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁa.di.kal\.
What does "radical" mean?
As an adjective, "radical" means: Qui vise à agir sur la cause profonde des effets qu’on veut modifier.
What words are commonly confused with "radical"?
"radical" is commonly confused with "radicale", "radicaux", "radicales". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "radical"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "radical" is \ʁa.di.kal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "radical" come from?
"radical" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "radical", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

prêtres#6,015requête#6,021profité#6,011pourrai#6,008

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

suédois10 variantstrouvée10 variantstypique10 variantsvivante10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list