Which to use
“alleged” is a verb and “allegedly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,797
- “alleged” frequency rank
- #6,434
- “allegedly” frequency rank
- 10231
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | alleged | allegedly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of allege | According to someone's allegation. |
Where the eye mixes alleged and allegedly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. alleged runs 7 letters (VCCVCVC) against allegedly's 9 (VCCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses alleged with allegedly
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alleged is /əˈlɛdʒd/ while allegedly is /əˈlɛdʒ.ɪd.li/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “alleged” sits inside “allegedly”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10231, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
alleged is recorded at frequency rank #3,797, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈlɛdʒd/. allegedly is at rank #6,434, tagged as anadv, pronounced /əˈlɛdʒ.ɪd.li/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 10231, this pair ranks #493,337 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of alleged vs allegedly
Shared letters: adegl. Private to "alleged": -. Private to "allegedly": y.
"alleged" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC · "allegedly" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "alleged" and "allegedly" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "alleged" or "allegedly"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "alleged" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "allegedly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #493,337 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "alleged" and "allegedly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alleged vs Allegra". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #493,337 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.