neighborly

adj

"neighborly" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“neighborly” is uncommon English (frequency #61,663 among 24,391 “N” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#61,663
frequency rank, English
24,391
“N” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - US standard spelling of neighbourly.

Key facts for neighborly
PropertyValue
Headwordneighborly
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters10
Frequency rank#61,663
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “neighborly” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). neighborly lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

neighborly is uncommon English at frequency #61,663 among 24,391 “N” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "US standard spelling of neighbourly.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for neighborly, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From neighbor + -ly. The correct English form is neighborly, spelled N-E-I-G-H-B-O-R-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    US standard spelling of neighbourly.

Etymology

From neighbor + -ly.

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 "neighborly"?
"neighborly" is spelled N-E-I-G-H-B-O-R-L-Y.
What does "neighborly" mean?
As an adjective, "neighborly" means: US standard spelling of neighbourly.
What is the origin of the word "neighborly"?
From neighbor + -ly. 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.

Using “neighborly”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is N-E-I-G-H-B-O-R-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list