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woolly

/ˈwʊli/adjective, noun

woolly is spelled W-O-O-L-L-Y: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,150th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “woolly vs wooly” about 20 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, woolly means “Made of wool” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in woolly?

Letters6: W-O-O-L-L-Y
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.1 times per million words; the 27,150th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How common is woolly?

Woolly appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,150th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce woolly?

  • /ˈwʊli/

Woolly has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-woolly.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with woolly

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

woolly vs wooly20 G

Also written: wooly.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of woolly

  • woollier comparative
  • woolliest superlative
  • wooly
  • woollies plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does woolly mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Made of wool.

    Put on a woolly jumper and turn down the thermostat.

  2. 2

    Having a thick, soft texture, as if made of wool.

    woolly hair

  3. 3

    Unclear, fuzzy, hazy, cloudy.

    That's the sort of woolly thinking that causes wars to start.

  4. 4

    obsoleteClothed in wool.

  5. 5

    archaicslangCross; irritable.

  6. 6

    USinformalUncivilized and unruly.

    wild and woolly

noun

  1. 1

    informalA sweater or similar garment made of wool.

  2. 2

    USslangA sheep not yet shorn.

  3. 3

    A piece of woolwork.

  4. 4

    derogatoryA woolly back; someone from the area around Liverpool, not from Liverpool itself.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Woolly in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchlaineux (made of wool)
Germanwollen, Woll- (made of wool), wollartig, wollig, zottig, schwammig (having a thick, soft texture, as if made of wool)
Portugueselanoso (made of wool)
Spanishlanoso (made of wool)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does woolly come from?

From Middle English wolly, equivalent to wool + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian wullich (“woolly”), Dutch wollig (“woolly”), German wollig (“woolly”), Swedish ullig (“woolly”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after woolly