nightly
/ˈnaɪtli/
"nightly" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“nightly” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #15,454 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #15,454
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Happening or appearing in the night; night-time; nocturnal.
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 | nightly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈnaɪtli/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #15,454 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “nightly” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for nightly is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈnaɪtli/. Corpus data places it at rank #15,454 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for nightly, with forms such as "inghtly", "ngihtly", and "nigghtly". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "nights", "night", "nighter", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English nyȝtly, nihtlich, nihtlic, from Old English nihtlīċ, nihtelīċ (“nocturnal, nightly, of the night, at night”), equivalent to night + -ly. Cognate with Scots nichtlie (“nightly”), West Frisian nachtlik (“nightly, nocturnal”), Dutch nachtel… The correct English form is nightly, spelled N-I-G-H-T-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Happening or appearing in the night; night-time; nocturnal.
- 2Performing, occurring, or taking place every night.
- 3Used in the night.
Etymology
From Middle English nyȝtly, nihtlich, nihtlic, from Old English nihtlīċ, nihtelīċ (“nocturnal, nightly, of the night, at night”), equivalent to night + -ly. Cognate with Scots nichtlie (“nightly”), West Frisian nachtlik (“nightly, nocturnal”), Dutch nachtelijk (“nightly, nocturnal”), German nächtlich (“nocturnal, nightly”), Danish natlig (“nightly”), Swedish nattlig (“nightly, nocturnal”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: inghtly,ngihtly,nigghtly,nighhtly,nighlty,nightlly,nightlyy,nighttly,nightyl,nigthly,nihgtly,nnightly
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of nightly - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “nightly”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-I-G-H-T-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈnaɪtli/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “nights” - see the side-by-side comparison. nightly vs nights
- 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.