unholy
/ʌnˈhəʊli/
"unholy" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“unholy” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #26,645. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #26,645
- frequency rank, English
- 1,433
- “U” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 7
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Not holy; (by extension) evil, impure, or otherwise perverted.
Corpus desk
Index EN-unholy · unholy · English
unholy · rank #26,645 · 9 variants · 7 confusables
- FREQ-MID #26,645
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 7 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,433
- PHOTO-FINISH unfaithful
Nearest frequency peer: unfaithful (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “unholy”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- Umar
Umar
73,359 corpus weight
- unfaithful
unfaithful
73,357 corpus weight
- unholy
unholy
73,356 corpus weight
- unify
unify
73,355 corpus weight
- unregulated
unregulated
73,354 corpus weight
- unscrupulous
unscrupulous
73,353 corpus weight
What this shows “unholy” 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 | unholy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ʌnˈhəʊli/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #26,645 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “unholy”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around unholy (IPA /ʌnˈhəʊli/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #26,645 among 1,433 “U” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for unholy, with forms such as "nuholy", "uhnoly", and "unhholy". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 7 confusable-pair relationships, "uphold", "untold", "unruly", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English unholi, unhaliȝ, from Old English unhāliġ, from Proto-Germanic *unhailagaz, equivalent to un- + holy. Cognate with Scots unhaly, Dutch onheilig, German Low German unhillig, German unheilig, Danish uhellig, Swedish ohelig. The correct English form is unholy, spelled U-N-H-O-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Not holy; (by extension) evil, impure, or otherwise perverted.
- 2Dreadful, terrible, excessive, or otherwise atrocious.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how unholy appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The priest's unholy behaviour brought the church into disrepute.
Presently, however, this pleasing piece was interrupted. Suddenly there was a slight commotion, and a large powerful woman, whom I had noted as one of the most vigorous of the dancers, came, made mad and drunken with unholy excitement, bounding and staggering towards us, shrieking out as she came: - `I want a Black Goat, I must have a Black Goat, bring me…
Etymology
From Middle English unholi, unhaliȝ, from Old English unhāliġ, from Proto-Germanic *unhailagaz, equivalent to un- + holy. Cognate with Scots unhaly, Dutch onheilig, German Low German unhillig, German unheilig, Danish uhellig, Swedish ohelig.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- nuholy
- uhnoly
- unhholy
- unhloy
- unholly
- unholyy
- unhoyl
- unnholy
- unohly
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of unholy - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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
How do you spell "unholy"?
What does "unholy" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "unholy"?
How do you pronounce "unholy"?
What is the origin of the word "unholy"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "unholy", 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 (9 here; floor ≥5).