dilly
/ˈdɪli/
"dilly" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dilly” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #44,739 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #44,739
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Redolent of dill (the herb).
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 | dilly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈdɪli/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #44,739 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dilly” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for dilly is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdɪli/. Corpus data places it at rank #44,739 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Redolent of dill (the herb).".
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for dilly, with forms such as "ddilly", "dillyy", and "dilyl". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "DIY", "doll", "dull", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From dill + -y. The correct English form is dilly, spelled D-I-L-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Redolent of dill (the herb).
Etymology
From dill + -y.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddilly,dillyy,dilyl,dlily
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dilly - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “dilly”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-I-L-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdɪli/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “DIY” - see the side-by-side comparison. dilly vs DIY
- 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.