regretfully
"regretfully" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“regretfully” is an uncommon English word, ranked #53,205 in English word frequency and used as an adverb.
- #53,205
- frequency rank, English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - In a regretful manner, with regret.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | regretfully |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #53,205 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “regretfully” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for regretfully is 11 letters long, classified as an adverb. Corpus data places it at rank #53,205 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for regretfully in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From regretful + -ly. The correct English form is regretfully, spelled R-E-G-R-E-T-F-U-L-L-Y.
Definition
- 1In a regretful manner, with regret.
- 2Unfortunately, in a manner inspiring or deserving regret; used only as a sentence adverb (to introduce and modify an entire sentence).
Etymology
From regretful + -ly.
This word in other languages
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 “regretfully”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-E-G-R-E-T-F-U-L-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.