Rad vs ré, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#35,306
“Rad” frequency rank: #9,922
“ré” frequency rank: 45228
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Rad	ré
Definition	roda	segunda nota musical da escala de dó maior

Where the eye mixes Rad and ré

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

Rad

2 ch

ré

Look-alike desk: Rad vs ré

A purely visual mix-up. Rad (/ˈraːt/) and ré (/ˈRɛ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45228, 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/. ré is at rank #9,922, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈRɛ/.

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 45228, this pair ranks #20,172 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Rad vs ré

Shared letters: r. Private to "Rad": ad. Private to "ré": é.

"Rad" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "ré" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Rad" for "ré" ever safe?

No. They are said differently (/ˈraːt/ versus /ˈRɛ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "Rad" or "ré"?

"ré" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,922 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

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

Full dictionary entry for "Rad" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ré" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #20,172 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"Rad" and "ré" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rabi vs Rad". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #20,172 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.