gangly
/ˈɡæŋ.ɡli/
"gangly" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“gangly” is uncommon English (frequency #76,791 among 2,313 “G” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #76,791
- frequency rank, English
- 2,313
- “G” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness.
Corpus desk
Index EN-gangly · gangly · English
gangly · rank #76,791 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #76,791
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,313
- PHOTO-FINISH Gallacher
Nearest frequency peer: Gallacher (-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.
Long-tail ranks near “gangly”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- flouted
flouted
23,222 corpus weight
- fowls
fowls
23,220 corpus weight
- frisked
frisked
23,216 corpus weight
- Gallacher
Gallacher
23,211 corpus weight
- gangly
gangly
23,210 corpus weight
- geum
geum
23,203 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “gangly” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | gangly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈɡæŋ.ɡli/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #76,791 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “gangly” in English
Rare enough to double-check
gangly is uncommon English at frequency #76,791 among 2,313 “G” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈɡæŋ.ɡli/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for gangly, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. 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: An American English alteration of gangling. The correct English form is gangly, spelled G-A-N-G-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how gangly appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I should have shot that long gangly lubber they called Hank, if I could have done it without crippling six or seven other people—but of course I couldn't, […]
A rangy, gangly, Scandinavian youth of a sailor, droop-shouldered, six feet six and slender as a lath, with pallid eyes of palest blue and skin and hair attuned to the same colour scheme, joined Kwaque in his work.
Etymology
An American English alteration of gangling.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "gangly", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).