more often than not
"more-often-than-not" is a 16-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“more often than not” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 19
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Usually; more than half the time; more likely to be the case than not to be the case.
Corpus desk
Index EN-more-often-than-not · more often than not · English
more often than not · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 19 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "M" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | more often than not |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| Letters | 19 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “more often than not” in English
Rare enough to double-check
more often than not is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Usually; more than half the time; more likely to be the case than not to be the case.".
Zero misspellings are on record for more often than not in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Origin obscure. Semantically equivalent to, and often understood as, an ellipsis of more often than not so. Possibly sometimes understood as more often than zero (see nought and naught), especially in reference to scales or gauges where mark zero represents… The correct English form is more often than not, spelled M-O-R-E- -O-F-T-E-N- -T-H-A-N- -N-O-T.
Definition
- 1Usually; more than half the time; more likely to be the case than not to be the case.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how more often than not appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Near-synonyms: commonly, frequently; usually; see also Thesaurus:usually
More often than not, tomato seeds will sprout even if they are a couple of years old.
Etymology
Origin obscure. Semantically equivalent to, and often understood as, an ellipsis of more often than not so. Possibly sometimes understood as more often than zero (see nought and naught), especially in reference to scales or gauges where mark zero represents the midpoint of measurement or frequency.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.