possibly
/ˈpɑ.sɪ.bli/adverb
possibly is spelled P-O-S-S-I-B-L-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is possibley: about 60 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 35 of all searches for the word. Possibly is an adverb meaning “Perhaps; indicates that the proposition may be true (is not certainly false) regardless of any facts or…”.
How many letters and syllables are in possibly?
| Letters | 8: P-O-S-S-I-B-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 59 times per million words; the 1,758th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, possibley, about 60 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell possibly?
Possibly is spelled P-O-S-S-I-B-L-Y. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 24 of the searches for possibly in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is possibly?
Possibly appears 59 times per million words in written English, the 1,758th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce possibly?
- UK /ˈpɒs.ə.bli/
- /ˈpɒs.ɪ.bli/
- US /ˈpɑ.sɪ.bli/
Possibly has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-possibly.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of possibly
- more possibly comparative
- most possibly superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does possibly mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
Perhaps; indicates that the proposition may be true (is not certainly false) regardless of any facts or circumstances known to, stated by or implied by the speaker.
Near-synonyms: maybe, perhaps, mayhap, mayhaps, by chance, perchance, peradventure; conceivably
- 2
In the realm of possibility; indicates that the action may successfully be performed (is not impossible) regardless of any facts or circumstances known to, stated by or implied by the speaker that might limit the performance.
I'm much stronger than you, so you can't possibly win.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate possibly?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of possibly: poss..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Possibly in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | buenamente , posiblemente, para nada |
| French | possiblement |
| German | vielleicht, eventuell, möglicherweise, unmöglich |
| Portuguese | possivelmente |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does possibly come from?
From possible + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).