Wortley

name

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"wortley" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Wortley” is uncommon English (frequency #71,229 among 12,113 “W” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#71,229
frequency rank, English
12,113
“W” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An inner city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SE2732).

Key facts for Wortley
PropertyValue
HeadwordWortley
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
Letters7
Frequency rank#71,229
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “Wortley” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). Wortley lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Wortley is uncommon English at frequency #71,229 among 12,113 “W” headwords, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Wortley doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Old English wyrt (“plant, vegetable”) + lēah (“wood clearing, glade”). Equivalent to wort + -ley (“lea”). The correct English form is Wortley, spelled W-O-R-T-L-E-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    An inner city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SE2732).
  2. 2
    A village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SK3099).
  3. 3
    A habitational surname from Old English.

Etymology

From Old English wyrt (“plant, vegetable”) + lēah (“wood clearing, glade”). Equivalent to wort + -ley (“lea”).

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 "Wortley"?
"Wortley" is spelled W-O-R-T-L-E-Y.
What does "Wortley" mean?
As a proper noun, "Wortley" means: An inner city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SE2732).
What is the origin of the word "Wortley"?
From Old English wyrt (“plant, vegetable”) + lēah (“wood clearing, glade”). Equivalent to wort + -ley (“lea”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “Wortley”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is W-O-R-T-L-E-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list