RadvsradarConfusable pair

Which to use

“Rad” and “radar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#35,306
“Rad” frequency rank
#7,454
“radar” frequency rank
42760
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Rad radar
Definition roda dispositivo que permite detectar objetos a longas distâncias

Where the eye mixes Rad and radar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
Rad
5 ch
radar

Look-alike desk: Rad vs radar

A purely visual mix-up. Rad (/ˈraːt/) and radar (/Ra.ˈdaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Rad” sits inside “radar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42760, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Rad is recorded at frequency rank #35,306, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈraːt/. radar is at rank #7,454, tagged as anoun, pronounced /Ra.ˈdaɾ/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 42760, this pair ranks #22,974 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Rad vs radar

Shared letters: adr. Private to "Rad": -. Private to "radar": -.

"Rad" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "radar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • radarardar · raadr · radarr · raddar · radra · rdaar · rradar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Rad" for "radar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈraːt/ versus /Ra.ˈdaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Rad" vs "radar" - which ranks higher?
"radar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,454 in our Portuguese list, against #35,306 for "Rad". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Rad" and "radar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Rad" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "radar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,974 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Rad" and "radar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rabi vs Rad". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #22,974 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list