# badly vs boldly

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### badly
*adverb · IPA /ˈbæd.li/ · frequency rank #3,351*
In a bad manner.

### boldly
*adverb · IPA /ˈbəʊldli/ · frequency rank #20,050*
In a bold manner; with confidence.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/badly-vs-boldly