lively
/ˈlaɪv.li/
"lively" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lively” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #8,815. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #8,815
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 18
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Full of life; energetic, vivacious.
Corpus desk
Index EN-lively · lively · English
lively · rank #8,815 · 9 variants · 18 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #8,815
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 18 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH lime
Nearest frequency peer: lime (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “lively”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- legion
legion
91,189 corpus weight
- lethal
lethal
91,188 corpus weight
- lime
lime
91,187 corpus weight
- lively
lively
91,186 corpus weight
- logistics
logistics
91,185 corpus weight
- lowered
lowered
91,184 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “lively” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | lively |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈlaɪv.li/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #8,815 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 18 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lively” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around lively (IPA /ˈlaɪv.li/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #8,815 among 2,297 “L” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for lively, with forms such as "ilvely", "lievly", and "livelly". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 18 confusable-pair relationships, "Livy", "lives", "liver", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English lyvely, lifly, from Old English līflīċ (“living, lively, long-lived, necessary to life, vital”), from Proto-West Germanic *lībalīk (“living, lively”), equivalent to life + -ly. Cognate with Scots lively, lifely (“of or pertaining to life… The correct English form is lively, spelled L-I-V-E-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Full of life; energetic, vivacious.
- 2Bright, glowing, vivid; strong, vigorous.
- 3Endowed with or manifesting life; living.
- 4Representing life; lifelike.
- 5Airy; animated; spirited.
- 6Fizzy; foamy; tending to produce a large head in the glass.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how lively appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
But wherefore comes old Manoa in such haſt, / With youthful ſteps? much livelier then e're while / He ſeems.
[...] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of railway viaducts, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.
Etymology
From Middle English lyvely, lifly, from Old English līflīċ (“living, lively, long-lived, necessary to life, vital”), from Proto-West Germanic *lībalīk (“living, lively”), equivalent to life + -ly. Cognate with Scots lively, lifely (“of or pertaining to life, vital, living, life-like”), Old High German līblīh (“living, animated”), German leiblich (“bodily, corporeal”). Doublet of lifely and lifelike.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ilvely
- lievly
- livelly
- livelyy
- liveyl
- livley
- livvely
- llively
- lviely
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lively - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "lively", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "lively". Here's where to go from here.
- "lively" maps to 18 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "Livy". View pair
- 9 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #8,815 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "L" letter cohort. L–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.