Donnelly
"donnelly" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Donnelly” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #21,494 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #21,494
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A surname from Irish.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Donnelly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #21,494 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Donnelly” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Donnelly is 8 letters long, classified as a proper noun. Corpus data places it at rank #21,494 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for Donnelly, with forms such as "ddonnelly", "dnonelly", and "donelly". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the Irish surname, from Ó Donnghaile (“descendant of Donnghal”), from donn (“brown-haired”) + gal (“valor”). The correct English form is Donnelly, spelled D-O-N-N-E-L-L-Y.
Definition
- 1A surname from Irish.
- 2A village in the Municipal District of Smoky River, northern Alberta, Canada.
- 3A place in the United States:
- 4A place in the United States:
- 5A place in the United States:
- 6A place in the United States:
Etymology
From the Irish surname, from Ó Donnghaile (“descendant of Donnghal”), from donn (“brown-haired”) + gal (“valor”).
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddonnelly,dnonelly,donelly,donenlly,donnellyy,donnely,donnelyl,donnlely,odnnelly
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Donnelly - 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
How do you spell "Donnelly"?
What does "Donnelly" mean?
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Using “Donnelly”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-O-N-N-E-L-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.