Which to use
“controversial” is an adjective and “controversially” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,842
- “controversial” frequency rank
- #38,344
- “controversially” frequency rank
- 43186
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | controversial | controversially |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Arousing or likely to arouse controversy. | In a controversial manner. |
Letter map: controversial vs controversially
Shared letters muted; letters that set controversial and controversially apart highlighted. Shared run: 13. controversial runs 13 letters (CVCCCVCVCCVVC) against controversially's 15 (CVCCCVCVCCVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - controversial and controversially
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: controversial is anadjective and controversiallyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “controversial” sits inside “controversially”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43186, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
controversial is recorded at frequency rank #4,842, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˌkɒn.tɹəˈvɜː.ʃəl/. controversially is at rank #38,344, tagged as anadv.
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 43186, this pair ranks #242,428 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of controversial vs controversially
Shared letters: aceilnorstv. Private to "controversial": -. Private to "controversially": y.
"controversial" · 13 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCCVVC · "controversially" · 15 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- controversial ← ccontroversial · cnotroversial · conntroversial · conrtoversial · contorversial · controevrsial · controverisal · controverrsial
- controversially ← ccontroversially · cnotroversially · conntroversially · conrtoversially · contorversially · controevrsially · controverisally · controverrsially
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "controversial" and "controversially" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "controversial" or "controversially"?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "controversial" and "controversially".
- Full dictionary entry for "controversial" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "controversially" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #242,428 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "controversial" and "controversially" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "controversial vs controversies". 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 #242,428 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.