subtly
/ˈsʌt.li/
"subtly" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“subtly” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #19,709. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #19,709
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - With subtleness, in a subtle manner; with cleverness rather than brute force.
Corpus desk
Index EN-subtly · subtly · English
subtly · rank #19,709 · 10 variants · 9 confusables
- FREQ-MID #19,709
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 9 pairs
- VAR-MID 10 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH stony
Nearest frequency peer: stony (-2 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 “subtly”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- stacking
stacking
80,296 corpus weight
- starch
starch
80,295 corpus weight
- stony
stony
80,294 corpus weight
- subtly
subtly
80,292 corpus weight
- surfer
surfer
80,290 corpus weight
- taj
taj
80,289 corpus weight
What this shows “subtly” 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 | subtly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /ˈsʌt.li/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #19,709 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “subtly”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 10 spelling variants around subtly (IPA /ˈsʌt.li/), anadverb. Corpus frequency is #19,709 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Dominant gloss: "With subtleness, in a subtle manner; with cleverness rather than brute force.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for subtly, with forms such as "sbutly", "ssubtly", and "subbtly". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "sully", "surly", "supply", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sotilly; equivalent to subtle + -ly. The correct English form is subtly, spelled S-U-B-T-L-Y.
Definition
- 1With subtleness, in a subtle manner; with cleverness rather than brute force.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how subtly appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Nexte cometh Arrius by ſoo muche the more wretched and madde in opynyon, by howe muche he dothe more ſubtely and craftily geue unto Chriſt the body of a man, and taketh from hym the ſowle of a man, […]
For though Contraria iuxta ſe poſita magis illuceſcunt [opposites placed next to each other shine more brightly] (by an olde Rule) yet it hath beene ſubtilly, and indeede truely noted that our Sight, is not vvell contented, vvith thoſe ſudden departments, from one extreame to another; Therefore let them haue, rather a Duskiſh Tincture, then an abſolute bl…
Etymology
From Middle English sotilly; equivalent to subtle + -ly.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- sbutly
- ssubtly
- subbtly
- sublty
- subtlly
- subtlyy
- subttly
- subtyl
- sutbly
- usbtly
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of subtly - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "subtly", 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 (10 here; floor ≥5).