uncertainly
/ʌnˈsɜːtən.li/
"uncertainly" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“uncertainly” is uncommon English (frequency #86,890 among 1,433 “U” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #86,890
- frequency rank, English
- 1,433
- “U” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - In an uncertain manner.
Corpus desk
Index EN-uncertainly · uncertainly · English
uncertainly · rank #86,890 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #86,890
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,433
- PHOTO-FINISH unburned
Nearest frequency peer: unburned (-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 “uncertainly”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- ultrabook
ultrabook
13,115 corpus weight
- unbundling
unbundling
13,114 corpus weight
- unburied
unburied
13,113 corpus weight
- unburned
unburned
13,112 corpus weight
- uncertainly
uncertainly
13,111 corpus weight
- underperfor…
underperformance
13,110 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “uncertainly” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | uncertainly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /ʌnˈsɜːtən.li/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #86,890 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “uncertainly” in English
Rare enough to double-check
uncertainly is uncommon English at frequency #86,890 among 1,433 “U” headwords, classed as anadverb, transcribed /ʌnˈsɜːtən.li/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "In an uncertain manner.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for uncertainly, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English uncerteynliche, uncertanlye. By surface analysis, uncertain + -ly or un- + certainly. The correct English form is uncertainly, spelled U-N-C-E-R-T-A-I-N-L-Y.
Definition
- 1In an uncertain manner.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how uncertainly appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
"No — don't you get it?" said Rimmer. ¶ "Get what?" said Kryten, uncertainly.
I sketch the place of others, pinning them down with objective confidence within an institutional, urban, or rural landscape, yet only failingly, uncertainly, imagine where I really belong[…]
Etymology
From Middle English uncerteynliche, uncertanlye. By surface analysis, uncertain + -ly or un- + certainly.
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 "uncertainly", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).