quarterly
"quarterly" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“quarterly” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,270 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #7,270
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Occurring once every quarter year (three months); taking place quarter-yearly.
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 | quarterly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #7,270 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “quarterly” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for quarterly is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective. Corpus data places it at rank #7,270 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for quarterly, with forms such as "qaurterly", "qquarterly", and "quaretrly". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "quarters", "quarter", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From quarter + -ly (adjectival). The correct English form is quarterly, spelled Q-U-A-R-T-E-R-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Occurring once every quarter year (three months); taking place quarter-yearly.
- 2(of a coat of arms) Divided into four parts crosswise.
Etymology
From quarter + -ly (adjectival).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: qaurterly,qquarterly,quaretrly,quarrterly,quartelry,quarterlly,quarterlyy,quarterrly,quarteryl,quartrely,quartterly,quatrerly,quraterly,uqarterly
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of quarterly - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “quarterly”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is Q-U-A-R-T-E-R-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “quarters” - see the side-by-side comparison. quarterly vs quarters
- 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.