miserly
/ˈmaɪ.zə(ɹ).li/
"miserly" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“miserly” is an uncommon English word, ranked #64,543 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #64,543
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Like a miser, very or objectionably cautious with money.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | miserly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈmaɪ.zə(ɹ).li/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #64,543 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “miserly” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for miserly is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmaɪ.zə(ɹ).li/. Corpus data places it at rank #64,543 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Like a miser, very or objectionably cautious with money.".
miserly has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From miser + -ly, attested from the 1540s. The correct English form is miserly, spelled M-I-S-E-R-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Like a miser, very or objectionably cautious with money.
Etymology
From miser + -ly, attested from the 1540s.
This word in other languages
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 “miserly”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-I-S-E-R-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmaɪ.zə(ɹ).li/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.