perpendicularly

adv

"perpendicularly" is a 15-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“perpendicularly” is uncommon English (frequency #78,008 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#78,008
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - In a perpendicular manner.

Corpus desk

Index EN-perpendicularly · perpendicularly · English

perpendicularly · rank #78,008 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #78,008
  • LEN-MEGA 15 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH percolation

Nearest frequency peer: percolation (-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.

Long-tail ranks near “perpendicularly”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “perpendicularly” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for perpendicularly
PropertyValue
Headwordperpendicularly
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters15
Frequency rank#78,008
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “perpendicularly” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).perpendicularlyfalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “percolation” (#78,007), “Perris” (#78,009), “Pema” (#78,006). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “perpendicularly” is #78,008. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

perpendicularly is uncommon English at frequency #78,008 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "In a perpendicular manner.".

Zero misspellings are on record for perpendicularly in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From perpendicular + -ly. The correct English form is perpendicularly, spelled P-E-R-P-E-N-D-I-C-U-L-A-R-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    In a perpendicular manner.

Etymology

From perpendicular + -ly.

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); 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 "perpendicularly"?
"perpendicularly" is spelled P-E-R-P-E-N-D-I-C-U-L-A-R-L-Y.
What does "perpendicularly" mean?
As an adverb, "perpendicularly" means: In a perpendicular manner.
What is the origin of the word "perpendicularly"?
From perpendicular + -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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "perpendicularly", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 15 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list