carefully
care·ful·ly/ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/adverb
carefully is spelled C-A-R-E-F-U-L-L-Y, 3 syllables: care·ful·ly. The wrong spelling people search most is carefuly: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 19 of all searches for the word. Carefully is an adverb meaning “With care; attentively, circumspectly”.
How many letters and syllables are in carefully?
| Letters | 9: C-A-R-E-F-U-L-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: care·ful·ly |
| In writing | 29 times per million words; the 3,218th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, carefuly, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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).
How do you spell carefully?
Carefully is spelled C-A-R-E-F-U-L-L-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 20 of the searches for carefully in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is carefully?
Carefully appears 29 times per million words in written English, the 3,218th 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 carefully?
- UK /ˈkɛːf(ə)li/
- US /ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/
Carefully has 3 syllables, split care·ful·ly in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-carefully.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of carefully
- more carefully comparative
- most carefully superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does carefully mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
obsoleteSorrowfully.
- 2
With care; attentively, circumspectly.
As he was a politician, he discussed all subjects carefully, not offending anyone.
- 3
Conscientiously, painstakingly, fastidiously, meticulously
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Carefully in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense in a careful manner:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | soigneusement |
| German | vorsichtig |
| Portuguese | cuidadosamente, cautelosamente |
| Spanish | cuidadosamente |
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 carefully come from?
From Middle English carfulli, carefulliche, from Old English carfullīċe, ċearfullīċe (“carefully, diligently”), equivalent to careful + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).