moley

adj

"moley" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“moley” is uncommon English (frequency #85,532 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#85,532
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Pertaining to, full of, or characteristic of moles (burrowing insectivores).

Corpus desk

Index EN-moley · moley · English

moley · rank #85,532 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #85,532
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH Moncrief

Nearest frequency peer: Moncrief (+2 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 “moley”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “moley” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for moley
PropertyValue
Headwordmoley
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters5
Frequency rank#85,532
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “moley” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).moleyfalls in this rarity band:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “Moncrief” (#85,534), “misanthropy” (#85,525), “Morimoto” (#85,540). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “moley” is #85,532. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

moley is uncommon English at frequency #85,532 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for moley, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From mole + -y. The correct English form is moley, spelled M-O-L-E-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pertaining to, full of, or characteristic of moles (burrowing insectivores).
  2. 2
    Having numerous moles (naevi)

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Although the snouts of moles twitch less than those of shrews, particularly elephant shrews, Dobson was enamoured of what he considered the more “moley” twitching of the snouts of moles.
  2. Happily for him, Fallowlees is a moley paradise. Moles have long been a fascination of Bill's, and he can often be found staring longingly at a molehill.

Etymology

From mole + -y.

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 "moley"?
"moley" is spelled M-O-L-E-Y.
What does "moley" mean?
As an adjective, "moley" means: Pertaining to, full of, or characteristic of moles (burrowing insectivores).
What is the origin of the word "moley"?
From mole + -y. 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 "moley", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list