personally

/ˈpɜː.sə.nə.li/

//ˈpɜː.sə.nə.li// adv

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

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

The verdict

“personally” has 14 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #2,638. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,638
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
4
confusable pairs

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

Corpus desk

Index EN-personally · personally · English

personally · rank #2,638 · 14 variants · 4 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,638
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH permanent

Nearest frequency peer: permanent (-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 “personally”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “personally” 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).

personally vs personals
80% similar
personally vs personal
80% similar
personally vs personable
80% similar

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

Key facts for personally
PropertyValue
Headwordpersonally
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
IPA/ˈpɜː.sə.nə.li/
Letters10
Frequency rank#2,638
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “personally”

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).personallylands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “permanent” (#2,637), “pleasure” (#2,639), “parent” (#2,636). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “personally” is #2,638. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around personally (IPA /ˈpɜː.sə.nə.li/), anadverb. Corpus frequency is #2,638 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for personally, with forms such as "eprsonally", "perosnally", and "perrsonally". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "personals", "personal", "personable", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English personally, personely, personallich, personaliche, equivalent to personal + -ly. The correct English form is personally, spelled P-E-R-S-O-N-A-L-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    In a personal manner.
  2. 2
    In person.
  3. 3
    Concerning oneself.
  4. 4
    As a person.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how personally appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.
  2. 'There's a boy here who wants to speak to Miss Clara personally,' he announced.

Etymology

From Middle English personally, personely, personallich, personaliche, equivalent to personal + -ly.

This word in other languages

personalmente(Español)personnellement(Français)persönlich(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • eprsonally
  • perosnally
  • perrsonally
  • persnoally
  • persoanlly
  • personallyy
  • personaly
  • personalyl
  • personlaly
  • personnally
  • perssonally
  • pesronally
  • ppersonally
  • presonally

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of personally - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

eprsonally2perosnally2perrsonally1persnoally2persoanlly2personallyy1personaly1personalyl2
Edit distance from "personally"

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 "personally"?
"personally" is spelled P-E-R-S-O-N-A-L-L-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpɜː.sə.nə.li/.
What does "personally" mean?
As an adverb, "personally" means: In a personal manner.
What words are commonly confused with "personally"?
"personally" is commonly confused with "personals", "personal", "personable". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "personally"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "personally" is /ˈpɜː.sə.nə.li/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "personally"?
From Middle English personally, personely, personallich, personaliche, equivalent to personal + -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 "personally", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

opposition#2,635ultimately#2,651basketball#2,657depression#2,670

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

permanent14 variantsdepending14 variantsrepresent14 variantsconducted14 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list