stiffly
/ˈstɪfli/
"stiffly" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“stiffly” is uncommon English (frequency #73,658 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #73,658
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - In a stiff manner.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | stiffly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /ˈstɪfli/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #73,658 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “stiffly” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
stiffly is uncommon English at frequency #73,658 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anadverb, transcribed /ˈstɪfli/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "In a stiff manner.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for stiffly, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English stifly, styfly; equivalent to stiff + -ly. The correct English form is stiffly, spelled S-T-I-F-F-L-Y.
Definition
- 1In a stiff manner.
Etymology
From Middle English stifly, styfly; equivalent to stiff + -ly.
This word in other languages
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 “stiffly”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-I-F-F-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈstɪfli/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.