badly
/ˈbæd.li/adverb, adjective
badly is spelled B-A-D-L-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 28 times per million words in written English, the 3,364th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “bad vs badly” about 480 times a month (Google, United States). As an adverb, badly means “In a bad manner” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in badly?
| Letters | 5: B-A-D-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 28 times per million words; the 3,364th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is badly?
Badly appears 28 times per million words in written English, the 3,364th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce badly?
- /ˈbæd.li/
Badly has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-badly.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with badly
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with badly?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as badly.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: baldy, blady.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of badly
- worse comparative
- worst superlative
- more badly comparative
- most badly superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does badly mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
In a bad manner.
Things are going badly for her: she did badly in her exams owing to a badly designed studying schedule.
- 2
Very much; to a great degree.
I want it so badly.
adjective
- 1
Ill, unwell.
He's never badly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Badly in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense in a bad manner:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does badly come from?
From Middle English badly, baddely, baddeliche, equivalent to bad + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).