separately
/ˈsɛp.(ə.)ɹət.li/
"separately" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“separately” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,294 in English word frequency and used as an adverb.
- #6,294
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 15
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - In a separate manner; not together; apart.
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 | separately |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /ˈsɛp.(ə.)ɹət.li/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #6,294 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “separately” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for separately is 10 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɛp.(ə.)ɹət.li/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,294 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "In a separate manner; not together; apart.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for separately, with forms such as "esparately", "seaprately", and "sepaartely". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "separate", "separated", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From separate + -ly. The correct English form is separately, spelled S-E-P-A-R-A-T-E-L-Y.
Definition
- 1In a separate manner; not together; apart.
Etymology
From separate + -ly.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: esparately,seaprately,sepaartely,separaetly,separatelly,separatelyy,separateyl,separatley,separattely,separrately,separtaely,sepparately,sepraately,spearately,sseparately
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of separately - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "separately"?
What does "separately" mean?
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Using “separately”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-E-P-A-R-A-T-E-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɛp.(ə.)ɹət.li/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “separate” - see the side-by-side comparison. separately vs separate
- 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.