poorly
/ˈpʊə.li/
"poorly" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“poorly” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,082 in English word frequency and used as an adverb.
- #6,082
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - In a poor manner or condition; without plenty, or sufficiency, or suitable provision for comfort.
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 | poorly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /ˈpʊə.li/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #6,082 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “poorly” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for poorly is 6 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpʊə.li/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,082 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for poorly, with forms such as "oporly", "poolry", and "poorlly". 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 9 confusable-pair relationships, "porky", "prolly", "poor", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English poorly, pouerly, poreliche, poureliche, pouerliche, equivalent to poor + -ly. The correct English form is poorly, spelled P-O-O-R-L-Y.
Definition
- 1In a poor manner or condition; without plenty, or sufficiency, or suitable provision for comfort.
- 2With little or no success; indifferently; with little profit or advantage.
- 3Meanly; without spirit.
- 4Without skill or merit.
- 5In a negative manner; with disapproval; unfavorably.
Etymology
From Middle English poorly, pouerly, poreliche, poureliche, pouerliche, equivalent to poor + -ly.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: oporly,poolry,poorlly,poorlyy,poorrly,pooryl,porly,poroly,ppoorly
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of poorly - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “poorly”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-O-O-R-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpʊə.li/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “porky” - see the side-by-side comparison. poorly vs porky
- 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.