A flexible Fast Walsh Transform circuit provides configurable FWT sizes, and is suitable for use in radio receivers where the received signal may be generated using varying spreading codes and/or varying numbers of multi-codes. Such signal types are commonly encountered in wireless communication systems like those based on the Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) or IS-2000 (cdma2000) standards, and particularly with the higher data rate provisions of those standards. In one application, a RAKE receiver includes RAKE fingers that each include one of the flexible FWT circuits, such that each finger despreads the received signal using variably sized FWTs in accordance with the characteristics of the received signal. The flexibility in FWT sizing may derive from, for example, the inclusion of separately selectable but differently sized FWT circuits, or from the inclusion of a configurable FWT circuit capable of generating different sizes of FWTs.