stiffly
/ˈstɪfli/
"stiffly" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“stiffly” is uncommon English (frequency #73,658 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #73,658
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - In a stiff manner.
Corpus desk
Index EN-stiffly · stiffly · English
stiffly · rank #73,658 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #73,658
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH stigmatize
Nearest frequency peer: stigmatize (+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 “stiffly”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- statesmansh…
statesmanship
26,346 corpus weight
- Stephanopou…
Stephanopoulos
26,345 corpus weight
- stiffly
stiffly
26,343 corpus weight
- stigmatize
stigmatize
26,342 corpus weight
- Stimpson
Stimpson
26,341 corpus weight
- stirrer
stirrer
26,340 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “stiffly” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| 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) |
Long-tail rank of “stiffly” in English
Rare enough to double-check
stiffly is uncommon English at frequency #73,658 among 6,566 “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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how stiffly appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
'Twas Mr. Glennie who first moved to seek me; for when the second day came that I was not at school, he thought that I was ill, and went to my aunt's to ask how I did, as was his wont when any ailed. But Aunt Jane answered him stiffly that she could not say how I did.
'Very well, Clara,' she said stiffly, 'but I shall also speak to your father.'
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "stiffly", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).