covalently

adv

"covalently" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“covalently” is uncommon English (frequency #69,760 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#69,760
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Using covalent bonds.

Corpus desk

Index EN-covalently · covalently · English

covalently · rank #69,760 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #69,760
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH costumer

Nearest frequency peer: costumer (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “covalently”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “covalently” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for covalently
PropertyValue
Headwordcovalently
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters10
Frequency rank#69,760
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “covalently” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).covalentlyfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “costumer” (#69,759), “cowherd” (#69,761), “CPB” (#69,762). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “covalently” is #69,760. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

covalently is uncommon English at frequency #69,760 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Using covalent bonds.".

No misspelling variants are generated for covalently in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From covalent + -ly. The correct English form is covalently, spelled C-O-V-A-L-E-N-T-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Using covalent bonds.

Etymology

From covalent + -ly.

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

How do you spell "covalently"?
"covalently" is spelled C-O-V-A-L-E-N-T-L-Y.
What does "covalently" mean?
As an adverb, "covalently" means: Using covalent bonds.
What is the origin of the word "covalently"?
From covalent + -ly. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "covalently", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list