correctly
/kəˈɹɛk(t).li/
"correctly" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“correctly” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,020 in English word frequency and used as an adverb.
- #5,020
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - In a correct manner.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | correctly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /kəˈɹɛk(t).li/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #5,020 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “correctly” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for correctly is 9 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kəˈɹɛk(t).li/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,020 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "In a correct manner.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for correctly, with forms such as "ccorrectly", "corectly", and "corerctly". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "currently", "correct", "corrected", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From correct + -ly. The correct English form is correctly, spelled C-O-R-R-E-C-T-L-Y.
Definition
- 1In a correct manner.
Etymology
From correct + -ly.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccorrectly,corectly,corerctly,corrcetly,correcctly,correclty,correctlly,correctlyy,correcttly,correctyl,corretcly,crorectly,ocrrectly
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of correctly - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “correctly”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-R-R-E-C-T-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kəˈɹɛk(t).li/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “currently” - see the side-by-side comparison. correctly vs currently
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.