skilfully

adv

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

"skilfully" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“skilfully” is uncommon English (frequency #53,257 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#53,257
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - British standard spelling of skillfully.

Corpus desk

Index EN-skilfully · skilfully · English

skilfully · rank #53,257 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #53,257
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH skelter

Nearest frequency peer: skelter (-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 “skilfully”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for skilfully
PropertyValue
Headwordskilfully
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters9
Frequency rank#53,257
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “skilfully” 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).skilfullyfalls in this rarity band:

#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. Rare peers in the same band: “skelter” (#53,256), “skeeter” (#53,255), “simpleton” (#53,253). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “skilfully” is #53,257. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

skilfully is uncommon English at frequency #53,257 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "British standard spelling of skillfully.".

skilfully has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From skilful + -ly. The correct English form is skilfully, spelled S-K-I-L-F-U-L-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    British standard spelling of skillfully.

Etymology

From skilful + -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 "skilfully"?
"skilfully" is spelled S-K-I-L-F-U-L-L-Y.
What does "skilfully" mean?
As an adverb, "skilfully" means: British standard spelling of skillfully.
What is the origin of the word "skilfully"?
From skilful + -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 "skilfully", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

simpleton#53,253Slovakian#53,261Snowdonia#53,266sheepskin#53,245

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list