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
- 12,113
- “W” headwords
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Facing the west; directed towards the west.
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) |
Where “westerly” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 13 spelling variants around westerly (IPA /ˈwɛs.tə(ɹ).li/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #27,697 among 12,113 “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.
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"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “westerly”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-E-S-T-E-R-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈwɛs.tə(ɹ).li/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “western” - see the side-by-side comparison. westerly vs western
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Same frequency band
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.