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"sparsely" is also used as a crossword clue. If that's what you saw, the answer is often thinly (6 letters).
Definitions
In a thinly spread or not crowded way.
Word origin
From sparse + -ly.
Used in a sentence
“a sparsely populated region”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer1 curated clues
01“Thinly”8 letters
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