shapely
/ˈʃeɪpli/
"shapely" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shapely” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #49,631 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #49,631
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 7
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Having a pleasing shape, pleasant to look at.
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 | shapely |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈʃeɪpli/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #49,631 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “shapely” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for shapely is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈʃeɪpli/. Corpus data places it at rank #49,631 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Having a pleasing shape, pleasant to look at.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for shapely, with forms such as "hsapely", "sahpely", and "shaeply". 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 7 confusable-pair relationships, "shapes", "shaper", "sharply", 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 schaply, schappely (“well-shaped, beautiful, attractive”), perhaps from Old English *ġesċeaplīċ (“according to design, proper, fit”) (suggested by Old English ġesċeaplīċe (“properly, fitting, well”)), equivalent to shape + -ly. The correct English form is shapely, spelled S-H-A-P-E-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Having a pleasing shape, pleasant to look at.
Etymology
From Middle English schaply, schappely (“well-shaped, beautiful, attractive”), perhaps from Old English *ġesċeaplīċ (“according to design, proper, fit”) (suggested by Old English ġesċeaplīċe (“properly, fitting, well”)), equivalent to shape + -ly.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hsapely,sahpely,shaeply,shapelly,shapelyy,shapeyl,shapley,shappely,shhapely,shpaely,sshapely
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of shapely - 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 “shapely”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-H-A-P-E-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈʃeɪpli/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “shapes” - see the side-by-side comparison. shapely vs shapes
- 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.