Donnelly

Name: Donnelly, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

name

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“Donnelly” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #21,494. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#21,494
frequency rank, English: 3,470
“D” headwords: 9
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A surname from Irish.

Corpus desk

Index EN-donnelly · Donnelly · English

Donnelly · rank #21,494 · 9 variants · 0 confusables

FREQ-MID #21,494
LEN-LONG 8 letters
VOW-3 3 vowels
CONFUS-0 No pairs
VAR-MID 9 variants
BOOK-MID 3,470
PHOTO-FINISH domino

Nearest frequency peer: domino (-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.

discern

78,510
domino

78,508
Donnelly

78,507
downgrade

78,506
dreamy

78,505
drenched

78,504

What this shows Bars show where “Donnelly” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Key facts for Donnelly
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

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).Donnellylands here:

#21,494

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “domino” (#21,493), “downgrade” (#21,495), “dreamy” (#21,496). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around Donnelly, aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #21,494 among 3,470 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

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

1
A surname from Irish.
2
A village in the Municipal District of Smoky River, northern Alberta, Canada.
3
A place in the United States:
4
A place in the United States:
5
A place in the United States:
6
A 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.

Edit distance from "Donnelly"

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"?

"Donnelly" is spelled D-O-N-N-E-L-L-Y.

What does "Donnelly" mean?

As a proper noun, "Donnelly" means: A surname from Irish.

What are common misspellings of "Donnelly"?

Common misspellings include "ddonnelly", "dnonelly", "donelly", "donenlly", "donnellyy". The correct spelling is "Donnelly".

What is the origin of the word "Donnelly"?

From the Irish surname, from Ó Donnghaile (“descendant of Donnghal”), from donn (“brown-haired”) + gal (“valor”). 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 "Donnelly", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

drenched#21,497 diligent#21,490 deletion#21,489 crucible#21,481

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

dreamy9 variants deities9 variants Dunbar9 variants cheeses9 variants

What to do next

You've looked up "Donnelly". Here's where to go from here.

9 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
Usage frequency rank #21,494 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
Browse more English words in the "D" letter cohort. D–Z browse
PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.