quickly

/ˈkwɪkli/

//ˈkwɪkli// adv

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"quickly" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“quickly” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,094. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,094
frequency rank, English
288
“Q” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Rapidly; with speed; fast; with expedition.

Corpus desk

Index EN-quickly · quickly · English

quickly · rank #1,094 · 11 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,094
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-MID 288
  • PHOTO-FINISH previous

Nearest frequency peer: previous (-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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “quickly”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “quickly” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

quickly vs quirky
71% similar
quickly vs quietly
71% similar
quickly vs quick
71% similar

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

Key facts for quickly
PropertyValue
Headwordquickly
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
IPA/ˈkwɪkli/
Letters7
Frequency rank#1,094
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “quickly” sits in English frequency

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).quicklylands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “previous” (#1,093), “region” (#1,095), “particular” (#1,092). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around quickly (IPA /ˈkwɪkli/), anadverb. Corpus frequency is #1,094 among 288 “Q” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for quickly, with forms such as "qiuckly", "qquickly", and "qucikly". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "quirky", "quietly", "quick", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English quykly, quikliche, quicliche, cwikliche, cwickliche, from Old English cwiculīċe. By surface analysis, quick + -ly. The correct English form is quickly, spelled Q-U-I-C-K-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Rapidly; with speed; fast; with expedition.
  2. 2
    Very soon.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Luckily, the error was quickly corrected.
  2. If we go this way, we'll get there quickly.

Etymology

From Middle English quykly, quikliche, quicliche, cwikliche, cwickliche, from Old English cwiculīċe. By surface analysis, quick + -ly.

Synonyms

apaceexpeditiouslyfasthastilyhurriedlyposthastequicksomerapidlyspeedilysoonswiftlywith dispatchat the high portballs-outballs to the wallcrankingflat outfull throttlehaulinghauling asshell-for-leatherhell-bent for leatherlickety-splitlike a bat out of helllike a blue-arsed flylike a dose of saltslike a rat up a drainpipelike gangbusterslike shit through a gooselike the clapperslike there is no tomorrowlike the windscreamingbefore you can say Jack Robinsonin a flashin a jiffyin no timein the twinkling of an eyein two shakeson the doublePDQprontoquick as a flashquick as a winkon the pdqtoot sweet

Antonyms

slowly

This word in other languages

deprisa(Español)rapidement(Français)schnell(Deutsch)rápido(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • qiuckly
  • qquickly
  • qucikly
  • quicckly
  • quickkly
  • quicklly
  • quicklyy
  • quickyl
  • quiclky
  • quikcly
  • uqickly

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of quickly - 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.

qiuckly2qquickly1qucikly2quicckly1quickkly1quicklly1quicklyy1quickyl2
Edit distance from "quickly"

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 "quickly"?
"quickly" is spelled Q-U-I-C-K-L-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈkwɪkli/.
What does "quickly" mean?
As an adverb, "quickly" means: Rapidly; with speed; fast; with expedition.
What words are commonly confused with "quickly"?
"quickly" is commonly confused with "quirky", "quietly", "quick". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "quickly"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "quickly" is /ˈkwɪkli/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "quickly"?
From Middle English quykly, quikliche, quicliche, cwikliche, cwickliche, from Old English cwiculīċe. By surface analysis, quick + -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 "quickly", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

section#1,097message#1,089leading#1,087contact#1,102

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

previous11 variantshusband11 variantspositive11 variantscontent11 variants

What to do next

You've looked up "quickly". Here's where to go from here.

  • "quickly" maps to 6 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "quirky". View pair
  • 11 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #1,094 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "Q" letter cohort. Q–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list