posthumously

Name: posthumously, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

adv

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“posthumously” has 19 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #34,229. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#34,229
frequency rank, English: 4,417
“P” headwords: 19
tracked misspellings: 1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - After death.

Corpus desk

Index EN-posthumously · posthumously · English

posthumously · rank #34,229 · 19 variants · 1 confusable

FREQ-MID #34,229
LEN-MEGA 12 letters
VOW-5 5 vowels
CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
VAR-HIGH 19 variants
BOOK-MID 4,417
PHOTO-FINISH populate

Nearest frequency peer: populate (-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.

pigmentation

65,775
pizzeria

65,774
populate

65,773
posthumously

65,772
PRA

65,771
prawn

65,770

What this shows “posthumously” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

posthumously vs posthumous

83% similar

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

Key facts for posthumously
Property	Value
Headword	posthumously
Language	English
Part of speech	Adverb
Letters	12
Frequency rank	#34,229
Misspellings tracked	19
Confusable pairs	1
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “posthumously”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).posthumouslylands here:

#34,229

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “populate” (#34,228), “PRA” (#34,230), “pizzeria” (#34,227). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “posthumously” is #34,229. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 19 spelling variants around posthumously, anadverb. Corpus frequency is #34,229 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Dominant gloss: "After death.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 19 likely wrong-spelling variants for posthumously, with forms such as "opsthumously", "poshtumously", and "possthumously". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "posthumous", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From posthumous + -ly. The correct English form is posthumously, spelled P-O-S-T-H-U-M-O-U-S-L-Y.

Definition

1
After death.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

In his boyhood that posthumously libelled sovereign lady, Anne, had terribly prevailed among the dwellings on this highway; […]
Yet while Gauguin went native, taking teenage mistresses, wearing local costumes and building his own wooden hut, his ultimate purpose was to impress the art world back home. And he did, although posthumously.

Etymology

From posthumous + -ly.

Synonyms

post mortem post obitum

Antonyms

antemortem anthumously prehumously premortem

This word in other languages

póstumamente(Español)posthumement(Français)postumamente(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

opsthumously
poshtumously
possthumously
posthhumously
posthmuously
posthummously
posthumosuly
posthumoulsy
posthumouslly
posthumouslyy
posthumoussly
posthumousyl
posthumuosly
posthuomusly
postthumously
postuhmously
potshumously
pposthumously
psothumously

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

Edit distance from "posthumously"

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 "posthumously"?

"posthumously" is spelled P-O-S-T-H-U-M-O-U-S-L-Y.

What does "posthumously" mean?

As an adverb, "posthumously" means: After death.

What words are commonly confused with "posthumously"?

"posthumously" is commonly confused with "posthumous". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

What is the origin of the word "posthumously"?

From posthumous + -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 "posthumously", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

pigmentation#34,226 phylogenetic#34,224 programmatic#34,236 partisanship#34,217

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (19 here; floor ≥5).

turbocharged19 variants intensifying19 variants astonishment19 variants electrifying19 variants