vastly
/ˈvæstli/
"vastly" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“vastly” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,712 in English word frequency and used as an adverb.
- #12,712
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Greatly, in a vast manner.
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 | vastly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /ˈvæstli/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #12,712 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “vastly” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for vastly is 6 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈvæstli/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,712 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Greatly, in a vast manner.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for vastly, with forms such as "avstly", "vaslty", and "vasstly". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "vestry", "vast", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From vast + -ly. The correct English form is vastly, spelled V-A-S-T-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Greatly, in a vast manner.
Etymology
From vast + -ly.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: avstly,vaslty,vasstly,vastlly,vastlyy,vasttly,vastyl,vatsly,vsatly,vvastly
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of vastly - 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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Using “vastly”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is V-A-S-T-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈvæstli/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “vestry” - see the side-by-side comparison. vastly vs vestry
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.