on the whole
"on-the-whole" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“on the whole” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a prep_phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - For the most part; apart from some insignificant details.
Corpus desk
Index EN-on-the-whole · on the whole · English
on the whole · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "O" 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 | on the whole |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Prep_phrase |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “on the whole” in English
Rare enough to double-check
on the whole is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aprep_phrase. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "For the most part; apart from some insignificant details.".
on the whole doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is on the whole, spelled O-N- -T-H-E- -W-H-O-L-E.
Definition
- 1For the most part; apart from some insignificant details.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how on the whole appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The language was wrong for the period, but, on the whole, I enjoyed the film.
Davis had a ball lodged in his body, and his right hand shot off; but on the whole, he seems to have been less damaged than his companion.
This word in other languages
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.