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PlainSpell

likely

like·ly/ˈlaɪkli/adjective, noun, adverb

likely is spelled L-I-K-E-L-Y, 2 syllables: like·ly. The wrong spelling people search most is likey: about 140 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Likely is an adjective meaning “Probable; having a greater-than-even chance of occurring”.

How many letters and syllables are in likely?

Letters6: L-I-K-E-L-Y
Syllables2: like·ly
In writing158 times per million words; the 638th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched3; the most searched, likey, about 140 Bing searches a month (all of them)

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 likely?

Likely is spelled L-I-K-E-L-Y. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for likely in either form.

likelythe right spelling1,330 searches a month
likeya missing l140 searches a month
likleye and l swapped100 searches a month
liklya missing e100 searches a month

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 likely?

Likely appears 158 times per million words in written English, the 638th 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 likely?

  • /ˈlaɪkli/

Likely has 2 syllables, split like·ly in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-likely.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of likely

  • more likely comparative
  • likelier comparative
  • most likely superlative
  • likeliest superlative
  • likelies plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does likely mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Probable; having a greater-than-even chance of occurring.

    Rain is likely later this afternoon.

  2. 2

    Reasonably to be expected; apparently destined, probable.

    Do you think there's likely to be snow?

  3. 3

    Appropriate, suitable; believable; promising, having a good potential.

    Jones is a likely candidate for management.

  4. 4

    Plausible; within the realm of credibility.

    not a very likely excuse.

  5. 5

    Leading with high probability to some specified outcome.

    a likely recipe for disaster.

  6. 6

    archaicAttractive; pleasant.

    I found a likely spot under a shady tree for the picnic.

  7. 7

    obsoleteSimilar; like; alike.

noun

  1. 1

    Something or somebody considered likely.

adverb

  1. 1

    CanadaUSProbably.

    Likely he’ll win the election in this economy.

  2. 2

    CanadaUSobsoleteSimilarly.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Likely in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchprobable (probable; having a greater-than-even chance of…)
Germanwahrscheinlich (probable; having a greater-than-even chance of…), glaubhaft, plausibel (plausible; within the realm of credibility)
Portugueseprovável (probable; having a greater-than-even chance of…), verossímel, verossímil (plausible; within the realm of credibility)
Spanishprobable (probable; having a greater-than-even chance of…), creíble (plausible; within the realm of credibility)

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 likely come from?

From Middle English likely, likly, lykly, likliche, from Old English ġelīclīċ (“suitable”) and Old Norse líkligr (“likely”) (probably independent formations), equivalent to like + -ly (adjectival suffix).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after likely