miserably

adv

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

"miserably" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“miserably” has 14 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #23,335. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#23,335
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - In a miserable manner.

Corpus desk

Index EN-miserably · miserably · English

miserably · rank #23,335 · 14 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #23,335
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH minimise

Nearest frequency peer: minimise (-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 “miserably”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “miserably” 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).

miserably vs miserable
89% similar

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

Key facts for miserably
PropertyValue
Headwordmiserably
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters9
Frequency rank#23,335
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “miserably”

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).miserablylands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “minimise” (#23,334), “Moldova” (#23,336), “Milano” (#23,333). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “miserably” is #23,335. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around miserably, anadverb. Corpus frequency is #23,335 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Dominant gloss: "In a miserable manner.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for miserably, with forms such as "imserably", "miesrably", and "misearbly". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "miserable", 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 myserablie; equivalent to miserable + -ly. The correct English form is miserably, spelled M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    In a miserable manner.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. fail miserably
  2. "Well, sorcerer?" growled the Norman. "Nay, not well," replied Catweazle shivering miserably, "I have the bone-ache."

Etymology

From Middle English myserablie; equivalent to miserable + -ly.

This word in other languages

misérablement(Français)miseravelmente(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • imserably
  • miesrably
  • misearbly
  • miserabbly
  • miserablly
  • miserablyy
  • miserabyl
  • miseralby
  • miserbaly
  • miserrably
  • misreably
  • misserably
  • mmiserably
  • msierably

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of miserably - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

imserably2miesrably2misearbly2miserabbly1miserablly1miserablyy1miserabyl2miseralby2
Edit distance from "miserably"

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 "miserably"?
"miserably" is spelled M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-Y.
What does "miserably" mean?
As an adverb, "miserably" means: In a miserable manner.
What words are commonly confused with "miserably"?
"miserably" is commonly confused with "miserable". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "miserably"?
From Middle English myserablie; equivalent to miserable + -ly. 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 "miserably", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Macquarie#23,330palladium#23,350Jordanian#23,319Pritchard#23,368

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

greyhound14 variantsstarboard14 variantsstupidest14 variantssurpassing14 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list