scarily

adv

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

The verdict

“scarily” is uncommon English (frequency #67,022 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#67,022
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - In a scary manner.

Corpus desk

Index EN-scarily · scarily · English

scarily · rank #67,022 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #67,022
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH sched

Nearest frequency peer: sched (+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.

Long-tail ranks near “scarily”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “scarily” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for scarily
PropertyValue
Headwordscarily
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters7
Frequency rank#67,022
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “scarily” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).scarilyfalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “sched” (#67,023), “schizoid” (#67,024), “Sauk” (#67,019). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “scarily” is #67,022. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

scarily is uncommon English at frequency #67,022 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "In a scary manner.".

Zero misspellings are on record for scarily in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: From scary + -ly. The correct English form is scarily, spelled S-C-A-R-I-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    In a scary manner.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. He adores his bedtime baseball stories, even at his ripe old age. “It's called 'The Curse.' Wooooooooo!” Sol sings scarily in a trilly, ghostlike, gradually descending soprano.
  2. Her loneliness is made much worse by post-natal depression and delusions – which are represented with scarily plausible simplicity.

Etymology

From scary + -ly.

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 "scarily"?
"scarily" is spelled S-C-A-R-I-L-Y.
What does "scarily" mean?
As an adverb, "scarily" means: In a scary manner.
What is the origin of the word "scarily"?
From scary + -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 "scarily", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list