prob'ly
/ˈpɹɒb.li/
"prob-ly" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“prob'ly” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Pronunciation spelling of probably.
Corpus desk
Index EN-prob-ly · prob'ly · English
prob'ly · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | prob'ly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /ˈpɹɒb.li/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “prob'ly” in English
Rare enough to double-check
prob'ly is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed /ˈpɹɒb.li/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Pronunciation spelling of probably.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for prob'ly, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Clipping of probably (clipped pronunciation). The correct English form is prob'ly, spelled P-R-O-B-'-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Pronunciation spelling of probably.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how prob'ly appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I should prob'ly keep my eyes on the road.
1967-1969, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure All I want to do is write 'n write. But I'll prob'ly end up in COLLEGE. Ugh.
Etymology
Clipping of probably (clipped pronunciation).
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.