O'Reilly

/əˈɹaɪli/

//əˈɹaɪli// name

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"o-reilly" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“O'Reilly” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #18,638. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#18,638
frequency rank, English
1,431
“O” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A surname from Irish [in turn originating as a patronymic] from Reilly.

Corpus desk

Index EN-o-reilly · O'Reilly · English

O'Reilly · rank #18,638 · 9 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #18,638
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,431
  • PHOTO-FINISH nemesis

Nearest frequency peer: nemesis (-1 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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “O'Reilly”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “O'Reilly” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

O'Reilly vs O'Neill
75% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for O'Reilly
PropertyValue
HeadwordO'Reilly
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
IPA/əˈɹaɪli/
Letters8
Frequency rank#18,638
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “O'Reilly”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).O'Reillylands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “nemesis” (#18,637), “originality” (#18,639), “myrtle” (#18,636). Among 1,431 “O” headwords, “O'Reilly” is #18,638. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around O'Reilly (IPA /əˈɹaɪli/), aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #18,638 among 1,431 “O” headwords. Dominant gloss: "A surname from Irish [in turn originating as a patronymic] from Reilly.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for O'Reilly, with forms such as "'oreilly", "o'erilly", and "o'reillyy". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "O'Neill", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is O'Reilly, spelled O-'-R-E-I-L-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A surname from Irish [in turn originating as a patronymic] from Reilly.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • 'oreilly
  • o'erilly
  • o'reillyy
  • o'reily
  • o'reilyl
  • o'relily
  • o'rielly
  • o'rreilly
  • or'eilly

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of O'Reilly - 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.

'oreilly2o'erilly2o'reillyy1o'reily1o'reilyl2o'relily2o'rielly2o'rreilly1
Edit distance from "O'Reilly"

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 "O'Reilly"?
"O'Reilly" is spelled O-'-R-E-I-L-L-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈɹaɪli/.
What does "O'Reilly" mean?
As a proper noun, "O'Reilly" means: A surname from Irish [in turn originating as a patronymic] from Reilly.
What words are commonly confused with "O'Reilly"?
"O'Reilly" is commonly confused with "O'Neill". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "O'Reilly"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "O'Reilly" is /əˈɹaɪli/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "O'Reilly" come from?
"O'Reilly" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "O'Reilly", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Mongolia#18,632populace#18,658Pretoria#18,659likeness#18,608

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

Orioles9 variantsparlor9 variantsmilling9 variantsMelvin9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list