sparsely
adverb
sparsely is spelled S-P-A-R-S-E-L-Y: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,367th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, sparsely means “In a scattered or sparse manner; widely apart; thinly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in sparsely?
| Letters | 8: S-P-A-R-S-E-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words; the 25,367th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is sparsely?
Sparsely appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,367th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sparsely?
Sparsely has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-sparsely.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sparsely
- more sparsely comparative
- most sparsely superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sparsely mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
In a scattered or sparse manner; widely apart; thinly.
a sparsely populated region
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sparsely in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense in a scattered or sparse manner:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | escasamente |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does sparsely come from?
From sparse + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).