funky
/fʌŋki/
"funky" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“funky” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,425 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #12,425
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 18
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Offbeat, unconventional or eccentric.
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 | funky |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /fʌŋki/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #12,425 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 18 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “funky” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for funky is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /fʌŋki/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,425 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 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for funky, with forms such as "ffunky", "fnuky", and "fukny". 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 18 confusable-pair relationships, "fury", "funny", "fuzzy", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From funk + -y. The correct English form is funky, spelled F-U-N-K-Y.
Definition
- 1Offbeat, unconventional or eccentric.
- 2Not quite right; of questionable quality; not appropriate to the context.
- 3Cool; great; excellent.
- 4Having a foul or unpleasant smell.
- 5Relating to or reminiscent of various genres of African American music, especially funk.
- 6Relating to, or characterized by, great fear, or funking.
Etymology
From funk + -y.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ffunky,fnuky,fukny,funkky,funkyy,funnky,funyk,ufnky
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of funky - 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 “funky”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-U-N-K-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /fʌŋki/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “fury” - see the side-by-side comparison. funky vs fury
- 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.