homely

/ˈhəʊmli/

//ˈhəʊmli// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"homely" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“homely” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #32,848. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#32,848
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
16
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Characteristic of, belonging to, or befitting a home; domestic, cosy.

Corpus desk

Index EN-homely · homely · English

homely · rank #32,848 · 9 variants · 16 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #32,848
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 16 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH Holliday

Nearest frequency peer: Holliday (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “homely”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “homely” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

homely vs hotel
67% similar
homely vs homes
67% similar
homely vs honey
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for homely
PropertyValue
Headwordhomely
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ˈhəʊmli/
Letters6
Frequency rank#32,848
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs16
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “homely”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).homelylands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “Holliday” (#32,847), “Humphries” (#32,849), “hoh” (#32,846). Among 2,646 “H” headwords, “homely” is #32,848. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around homely (IPA /ˈhəʊmli/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #32,848 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for homely, with forms such as "hhomely", "hmoely", and "hoemly". 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 16 confusable-pair relationships, "hotel", "homes", "honey", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English homly, hoomly, hamely (“domestic, familiar, plain, unattractive”), from Old English *hāmlīċ (“of the home, domestic”), from Proto-West Germanic *haimalīk (“of or characteristic of home”), equivalent to home + -ly. Cognate with Scots hame… The correct English form is homely, spelled H-O-M-E-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Characteristic of, belonging to, or befitting a home; domestic, cosy.
  2. 2
    Lacking in beauty or elegance, plain in appearance, physically unattractive.
  3. 3
    On intimate or friendly terms with (someone); familiar; at home (with a person); intimate.
  4. 4
    Domestic; tame.
  5. 5
    Personal; private.
  6. 6
    Friendly; kind; gracious; cordial.
  7. 7
    Conservative and family-oriented.
  8. 8
    Simple; plain; familiar; unelaborate; unadorned.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how homely appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. An interesting illustration of this is the way in which the English flower names which were in use till very recently are being ousted by Greek ones, snapdragon becoming antirrhinum, forget-me-not becoming myosotis, etc. It is hard to see any practical reason for this change of fashion: it is probably due to an instinctive turning-away from the more homel…
  2. Other homely details in the stories — preparing a salad, diapering a baby

Etymology

From Middle English homly, hoomly, hamely (“domestic, familiar, plain, unattractive”), from Old English *hāmlīċ (“of the home, domestic”), from Proto-West Germanic *haimalīk (“of or characteristic of home”), equivalent to home + -ly. Cognate with Scots hamely (“familiar, personal, private”), West Frisian heimelik, Dutch heimelijk (“secret, secretive, clandestine”), German heimlich (“secret, secretive, clandestine, undercover”), Danish hemmelig (“secret”), Swedish hemlig (“secret, concealed, privy, covert”), Faroese heimligur (“homelike, homey”), Icelandic heimlegur (“homely; worldly”).

This word in other languages

heimelig(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hhomely
  • hmoely
  • hoemly
  • homelly
  • homelyy
  • homeyl
  • homley
  • hommely
  • ohmely

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of homely - 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.

hhomely1hmoely2hoemly2homelly1homelyy1homeyl2homley2hommely1
Edit distance from "homely"

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 "homely"?
"homely" is spelled H-O-M-E-L-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈhəʊmli/.
What does "homely" mean?
As an adjective, "homely" means: Characteristic of, belonging to, or befitting a home; domestic, cosy.
What words are commonly confused with "homely"?
"homely" is commonly confused with "hotel", "homes", "honey". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "homely"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "homely" is /ˈhəʊmli/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "homely"?
From Middle English homly, hoomly, hamely (“domestic, familiar, plain, unattractive”), from Old English *hāmlīċ (“of the home, domestic”), from Proto-West Germanic *haimalīk (“of or characteristic of home”), equivalent to home + -ly. Cognate with ... 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 "homely", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

inbred#32,854incase#32,855Healey#32,840habeas#32,836

Similar misspelling depth

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

Holliday9 variantsIgnacio9 variantsinnuendo9 variantsJoplin9 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list