molly
/ˈmɒli/
"molly" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“molly” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #8,694 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #8,694
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A woman or girl, especially of low status or prostitute.
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 | molly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmɒli/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #8,694 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “molly” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for molly is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmɒli/. Corpus data places it at rank #8,694 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for molly, with forms such as "mloly", "mmolly", and "mollyy". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "mull", "moly", "money", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Molly, the personal name, a pet form of Mary. In some cases it is possibly derived from mollitia (“softness, weakness”). Drug sense probably influenced by the initial of MDMA. The correct English form is molly, spelled M-O-L-L-Y.
Definition
- 1A woman or girl, especially of low status or prostitute.
- 2a male homosexual, especially an effeminate one.
- 3Pure MDMA powder.
- 4A mollemoke.
- 5A female cat, a she-cat (usually spayed)
- 6A bird, the wagtail.
- 7A molly bolt.
Etymology
From Molly, the personal name, a pet form of Mary. In some cases it is possibly derived from mollitia (“softness, weakness”). Drug sense probably influenced by the initial of MDMA.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mloly,mmolly,mollyy,molyl,omlly
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of molly - 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “molly”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-O-L-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmɒli/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “mull” - see the side-by-side comparison. molly vs mull
- 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.