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I know publically appears as an incorrect spelling in most dictionaries (in fact as I type this up on my Safari browser it keeps trying to correct the spelling to publicly).

However I have seen the word spelled in that manner before in certain places so I did a search on Google and found that there is a definition for the spelling publically at dictionary.com and the free dictionary as well. The English wiktionary site considers it an alternate spelling.

Are both spellings valid or are there some subtle differences I am missing? Which version would you accept as correct in a spelling bee?

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3 Answers

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Publicly is certainly the commoner version, but publically is a logical alternative, mentioned in the OED with half a dozen citations from 1727 to 1998, so it can't really be called a mistake.

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Though "publicly" is far more common than "publically", it is bucking the trend. The OED has the following numbers of entries for the endings "-icly" and "-ically": 63 vs. 2100. Some of those "-ically" will be from words in "-ical" of course, but it has only 3500 "-ical" entries as against 11000 in "-ic". – Colin Fine Oct 14 '11 at 11:50
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I would accept only "publicly" as being correct. I'm surprised that you found dictionaries listing "publically" as anything other than a mis-spelling of "publicly".

If this alternative spelling does become commonplace, there's still no difference in their meaning; they are, after all, alternative spellings of the same word, not different-but-similar words.

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Actually I found this as an accepted alternate spelling in my Merriam Websters Dictionary so its not just online dictionaries that carry the spelling. – Nikhil Oct 16 '11 at 15:38
Not only does the OED, as noted above by TimLymington, have an entry for 'publically' (and who am I to gainsay that), but a pop into the Free Dictionary and you can easily find it defined there as well. It is, as has been noted, a rare but acceptable variant of 'publicly'. – mister_pluto Nov 19 '12 at 8:05
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Publicly is correct

Ly is an old English word meaning "part of, like" When added as a suffix it changes a noun into an adjective "like" the noun

Therefore Public----Public(ly)

You will find many words that look similar to Publically, but that is a coincidence of spelling

Example Cynical-----Cynical(ly) Trivial------Trivial(ly)

That's all there is to it and you will never misspell again! Just remember when turning a noun into an adjective by suffix it is LY

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