Which to use
“barely” is an adverb and “burly” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,041
- “barely” frequency rank
- #36,059
- “burly” frequency rank
- 39100
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | barely | burly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | By a small margin. | Large, well-built, and muscular. |
Where the eye mixes barely and burly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. barely runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against burly's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: barely vs burly
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: barely is /ˈbɛə(ɹ).li/ while burly is /ˈbɜːli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39100, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
barely is recorded at frequency rank #3,041, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈbɛə(ɹ).li/. burly is at rank #36,059, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈbɜːli/.
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 39100, this pair ranks #279,843 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of barely vs burly
Shared letters: blry. Private to "barely": ae. Private to "burly": u.
"barely" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "burly" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "barely" and "burly" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "barely" or "burly"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "barely" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "burly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #279,843 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "barely" and "burly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "burly vs Burney". 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 #279,843 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.