westerly
/ˈwɛs.tə(ɹ).li/
"westerly" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“westerly” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #27,697. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #27,697
- frequency rank, English
- 1,759
- “W” headwords
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Facing the west; directed towards the west.
Corpus desk
Index EN-westerly · westerly · English
westerly · rank #27,697 · 13 variants · 1 confusable
- FREQ-MID #27,697
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
- VAR-HIGH 13 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,759
- PHOTO-FINISH westbound
Nearest frequency peer: westbound (-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 “westerly”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- westbound
westbound
72,305 corpus weight
- westerly
westerly
72,304 corpus weight
- Whitehouse
Whitehouse
72,303 corpus weight
- Wilfred
Wilfred
72,302 corpus weight
- Wilton
Wilton
72,301 corpus weight
- winch
winch
72,300 corpus weight
What this shows “westerly” 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 | westerly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈwɛs.tə(ɹ).li/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #27,697 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “westerly”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 13 spelling variants around westerly (IPA /ˈwɛs.tə(ɹ).li/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #27,697 among 1,759 “W” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for westerly, with forms such as "ewsterly", "wesetrly", and "wessterly". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "western", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is westerly, spelled W-E-S-T-E-R-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Facing the west; directed towards the west.
- 2Located towards or in the west.
- 3Coming from the west.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how westerly appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
a westerly course or voyage
Tall, blue-eyed, this proud and stubborn Genoese seaman first visited Portugal, proposing his scheme for a westerly voyage in search of the Indies.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ewsterly
- wesetrly
- wessterly
- westelry
- westerlly
- westerlyy
- westerrly
- westeryl
- westrely
- westterly
- wetserly
- wseterly
- wwesterly
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of westerly - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "westerly"?
What does "westerly" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "westerly"?
How do you pronounce "westerly"?
What language does "westerly" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "westerly", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).