formerly
/ˈfɔɹmɚli/
"formerly" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“formerly” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,760 in English word frequency and used as an adverb.
- #4,760
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - at some time in the past
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 | formerly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /ˈfɔɹmɚli/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #4,760 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “formerly” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for formerly is 8 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfɔɹmɚli/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,760 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for formerly, with forms such as "fformerly", "fomrerly", and "foremrly". 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, "former", "forgery", "formally", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From former + -ly. The correct English form is formerly, spelled F-O-R-M-E-R-L-Y.
Definition
- 1at some time in the past
- 2previously; once
Etymology
From former + -ly.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: fformerly,fomrerly,foremrly,formelry,formerlly,formerlyy,formerrly,formeryl,formmerly,formrely,forrmerly,fromerly,ofrmerly
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of formerly - 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 “formerly”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-O-R-M-E-R-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfɔɹmɚli/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “former” - see the side-by-side comparison. formerly vs former
- 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.