Do you remember a time when you found yourself ruminating over the most relevant word? Refrain from reliving this heartbreak. Reinforce your vocabulary and resolve to rejoice in more R-words. Whether you’re romping through a relaxed game (like Scrabble or Words with Friends) or rushing to rewrite a research paper, reward yourself by ratcheting up your resources. We recommend reaching for some R-words to expand your repertoire. R is the 18th letter of the English alphabet, but it reappears in many reliable words! If you’re looking to reinvent your vocabulary, get ready to recognize all the ravishing words that start with the letter R.
We’ve created this list of words for you, organized by the number of letters in each word. Many of these words have more than one meaning. For simplicity, we’ve only listed one definition for each word. Keep in mind, this word list doesn’t contain every single English word that starts with R; however, it’s a useful introduction to this very special letter.
Your writing, at its best
Compose bold, clear, mistake-free, writing with Grammarly's AI-powered writing assistant
Here are some words that start with R [2-15 letter words]
15-Letter Words
reconstructible – Adjective | Capable of being built or assembled again
retinoblastomas – Noun | Malignant tumors of the retina that occur during early childhood
retrovirologist – Noun | Someone who studies any single-strand RNA viruses of the family Retroviridae
romanticization – Noun | The act of presenting situations and people in a heroic or idealized way
14-Letter Words
radiotelemeter – Noun | Equipment used for measuring the distance of an object from an observer using radio waves
rehabilitative – Adjective | Acting to restore former capacity
röntgenography – Noun | The process of making radiographs (also spelled roentgenography)
rostrocarinate – Adjective | Pertaining to a chipped, flint artifact with a beaklike shape found in Suffolk, England
13-Letter Words
replenishment – Noun | The act of refilling or building up again
resynthesizes – Verb | Produces something again by the union of chemical elements or the degradation of a complex compound
reverberating – Verb | Echoing, resounding
rubbernecking – Verb | Observing with exaggerated curiosity
12-Letter Words
radicalizing – Verb | Making someone or something politically extreme
radiographic – Adjective | Pertaining to a picture produced on a sensitive surface by a form of radiation besides light
relationship – Noun | A romantic or friendly attachment
retroflexion – Noun | The state of being bent back
11-Letter Words
rabbitbrush – Noun | Shrubby, North American plants of the genera Chrysothamnus, Ericameria, and Lorandersonia
recognizing – Verb | Acknowledging and taking notice
requalifies – Verb | Passes examinations again
retrofitted – Verb | Equipped with new parts and features after manufacture
10-Letter Words
ragamuffin – Noun | A ragged child
razzmatazz – Noun | A colorful, ostentatious action or display
redundancy – Noun | The use of unnecessary words and phrases to express an idea
ribbonwood – Noun | A small evergreen found in New Zealand, used for furniture-making
9-Letter Words
radiogram – Noun | A message transmitted using Morse code sent via radio waves
rasterize – Verb | To convert into pixels
reexamine – Verb | To consider again
rockslide – Noun | A cascade of rocks down a hillside
8-Letter Words
radiance – Noun | The quality of glowing or giving off light
reworked – Verb | Made edits prior to publication
rhapsody – Noun | A state of ecstasy
rumpling – Verb | Creating wrinkles and creases in something
7-Letter Words
raccoon – Noun | A small, North American mammal with a black mask and a ringed tail
raceway – Noun | A conduit for electrical wires in a building
racquet – Noun | A tool with nylon netting across an oval frame, used in games of tennis, racquetball, or badminton
requiem – Noun | A Catholic mass for the dead
6-Letter Words
raceme – Noun | An arrangement of flowers growing at equal distances across an elongated axis, with the oldest flowers at the base
rachis – Noun | The spinal column
record – Verb | To document in writing
rocket – noun | A projectile propelled through the air by the rearward discharge of the gases
5-Letter Words
acer – Noun | A person or animal participating in a race
racker – Noun | An attendant who places balls in the rack before a billiards or pool game
radix – Noun | The point of origin, primary source
radon – Noun | Radioactive element resulting from the decay of radium
rajah – Noun | An Indian noble or landlord (also spelled raja)
raker – Noun | Someone who scrapes a pronged tool across the ground
rammy – Noun | A chaotic, noisy commotion (Scottish English)
redux – Adjective | Brought back
remix – Noun | A rearranged or altered version of an original recording
roque – Noun | Croquet played on a raised court with a low wall
4-Letter Words
racy – Adjective | Vigorous, lively
raff – Noun | Rabble or riffraff
raga – Noun | Indian improvised music, based on a traditional scale
raia – Noun | A non-Muslim within the Ottoman Empire (also spelled rayah)
raku – Noun | Japanese pottery fired at a low temperature
rale – Noun | Abnormal crackling heard on auscultation of the chest
rami – Noun | The branches of a nerve
rani – Noun | A Hindu queen (also spelled ranee)
rant – Verb | To talk in a noisy, declamatory, and bombastic way
rapt – Adjective | Fully attentive and engrossed
rasp – Verb | To utter in a harsh tone
rath – Noun | A circular enclosure, often the dwelling of an ancient Irish chief
raze – Verb | To destroy completely, down to the ground (also spelled rase)
razz – Verb | To heckle
ream – Noun | A unit of paper, measuring 480, 500, or 516 sheets
reck – Verb | To worry
redd – Noun | A place where fish spawn or nest
rede – Verb | To advise
reif – Noun | The act of plunder
repo – Adjective | Pertaining to the business of repossessing property
rhea – Noun | South American ratite birds, similar to small ostriches
riff – Noun | An ostinato phrase, often accompanying solo improvisation
ritz – Noun | A gaudy display
romp – Verb | To play happily
rood – Noun | A British measurement of land equal to 1/4 acre
roux – Noun | A mixture of fat and flour designed to thicken a soup or sauce
ruck – Noun | A jumble
rudd – Noun | A freshwater cyprinid fish
ruff – Noun | A spotted freshwater perch
rump – Noun | A butcher’s cut of meat between the loin and round
3-Letter Words
rah – Interjection | An expression of encouragement
rax – Verb | To stretch (Scottish English)
reb – Noun | A confederate soldier
rho – Noun | The 17th letter of the greek alphabet
ria – Noun | A valley that has been submerged by sea level rise to form an inlet
rut – Noun | Breeding season for animals such as deer and elk
rya – Noun | A Scandinavian rug
2-Letter Words
re – Noun | The second tone of the major scale
By looking at this list, you may be able to identify some common prefixes. Words that start with “re” often have something to do repetition. Words beginning with “radio” frequently involve radiant energy or radio waves. Understanding these linguistic patterns can help you to intuit what a word means, even when you don’t have a dictionary handy.
Realize your potential by reciting rhymes, regularly using words that start with the letter R. Revel in your role as the reigning champion of word finders, anagram jumbles, and crossword puzzles. Receive rave reviews for your rousing recitations. From re to reconstructible, this word list really rewards those who revisit it. Just remember to review the new terms regularly, and you’ll be ready to regale your friends with R-words right away.
The Word Counter is a dynamic online tool used for counting words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and pages in real time, along with spelling and grammar checking.
Kari Lisa Johnson
I’m an award-winning playwright with a penchant for wordplay. After earning a perfect score on the Writing SAT, I worked my way through Brown University by moonlighting as a Kaplan Test Prep tutor. I received a BA with honors in Literary Arts (Playwriting)—which gave me the opportunity to study under Pulitzer Prize-winner Paula Vogel. In my previous roles as new media producer with Rosetta Stone, director of marketing for global ventures with The Juilliard School, and vice president of digital strategy with Up & Coming Media, I helped develop the voice for international brands. From my home office in Maui, Hawaii, I currently work on freelance and ghostwriting projects.
