principally
"principally" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“principally” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #17,215 in English word frequency and used as an adverb.
- #17,215
- frequency rank, English
- 11
- letters
- 16
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - In a primary manner; pertaining to the principal of a matter.
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 | principally |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #17,215 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “principally” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for principally is 11 letters long, classified as an adverb. Corpus data places it at rank #17,215 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "In a primary manner; pertaining to the principal of a matter.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for principally, with forms such as "pirncipally", "pprincipally", and "pricnipally". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "principal", "principality", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English principaly. By surface analysis, principal + -ly. The correct English form is principally, spelled P-R-I-N-C-I-P-A-L-L-Y.
Definition
- 1In a primary manner; pertaining to the principal of a matter.
Etymology
From Middle English principaly. By surface analysis, principal + -ly.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: pirncipally,pprincipally,pricnipally,princcipally,princiaplly,principallyy,principaly,principalyl,principlaly,princippally,princpially,prinicpally,prinncipally,prnicipally,prrincipally,rpincipally
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of principally - 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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What does "principally" mean?
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Using “principally”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-R-I-N-C-I-P-A-L-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “principal” - see the side-by-side comparison. principally vs principal
- 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.