inefficiently
"inefficiently" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“inefficiently” is uncommon English (frequency #72,421 among 17,902 “I” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #72,421
- frequency rank, English
- 17,902
- “I” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - In an inefficient manner.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | inefficiently |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| Letters | 13 |
| Frequency rank | #72,421 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “inefficiently” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
inefficiently is uncommon English at frequency #72,421 among 17,902 “I” headwords, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "In an inefficient manner.".
inefficiently doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From inefficient + -ly. The correct English form is inefficiently, spelled I-N-E-F-F-I-C-I-E-N-T-L-Y.
Definition
- 1In an inefficient manner.
Etymology
From inefficient + -ly.
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 “inefficiently”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-E-F-F-I-C-I-E-N-T-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.