solely
/ˈsəʊl.li/
"solely" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“solely” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #5,164. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #5,164
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 13
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Alone; exclusively.
Corpus desk
Index EN-solely · solely · English
solely · rank #5,164 · 9 variants · 13 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #5,164
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 13 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH resist
Nearest frequency peer: resist (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “solely”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- regards
regards
94,840 corpus weight
- relatives
relatives
94,839 corpus weight
- resist
resist
94,838 corpus weight
- solely
solely
94,837 corpus weight
- stepped
stepped
94,836 corpus weight
- striking
striking
94,835 corpus weight
What this shows “solely” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | solely |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /ˈsəʊl.li/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #5,164 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 13 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “solely”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around solely (IPA /ˈsəʊl.li/), anadverb. Corpus frequency is #5,164 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Alone; exclusively.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for solely, with forms such as "oslely", "sloely", and "soelly". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "sully", "surely", "solemn", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English soly, sooly, soolly, equivalent to sole + -ly. The correct English form is solely, spelled S-O-L-E-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Alone; exclusively.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how solely appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The new chef was solely responsible for attending the grill.
This week, officials closed all evacuation centers but two on Staten Island. Now they plan to rely solely on hotels, even as they brace for a new wave of people displaced from storm-damaged housing where they are facing winter without heat or hot water.
Etymology
From Middle English soly, sooly, soolly, equivalent to sole + -ly.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- oslely
- sloely
- soelly
- solelly
- solelyy
- soleyl
- sollely
- solley
- ssolely
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of solely - 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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "solely", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).