formerly
/ˈfɔɹmɚli/adverb
formerly is spelled F-O-R-M-E-R-L-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is formely: about 60 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 20 of all searches for the word. Formerly is an adverb meaning “at some time in the past”.
How many letters and syllables are in formerly?
| Letters | 8: F-O-R-M-E-R-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 17 times per million words; the 4,752nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, formely, about 60 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell formerly?
Formerly is spelled F-O-R-M-E-R-L-Y. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 18 of the searches for formerly in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is formerly?
Formerly appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,752nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce formerly?
- US /ˈfɔɹmɚli/
- UK /ˈfɔːməli/
Formerly has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-formerly.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with formerly
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: formally (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What does formerly mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
at some time in the past
Xenia Robertson, formerly known as Xenia Isaamov, is from Ukraine.
- 2
previously; once
This ranch was formerly owned by slaveholders.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate formerly?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of formerly: MAC, fmly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Formerly in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | auparavant, autrefois, anciennement |
| German | früher, ehemals |
| Portuguese | antigamente , antes |
| Spanish | anteriormente, antiguamente, otrora, antaño |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does formerly come from?
From former + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).