miserly
/ˈmaɪ.zə(ɹ).li/
"miserly" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“miserly” is uncommon English (frequency #64,543 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #64,543
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Like a miser, very or objectionably cautious with money.
Corpus desk
Index EN-miserly · miserly · English
miserly · rank #64,543 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #64,543
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH miya
Nearest frequency peer: miya (+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.
Long-tail ranks near “miserly”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- midazolam
midazolam
35,464 corpus weight
- miming
miming
35,462 corpus weight
- miserly
miserly
35,458 corpus weight
- miya
miya
35,457 corpus weight
- mockumentary
mockumentary
35,455 corpus weight
- modulo
modulo
35,453 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “miserly” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| 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) |
Long-tail rank of “miserly” in English
Rare enough to double-check
miserly is uncommon English at frequency #64,543 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈmaɪ.zə(ɹ).li/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how miserly appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
miserly habits
miserly offer
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "miserly", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).