Which to use
“conventional” is an adjective and “conventionally” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,662
- “conventional” frequency rank
- #26,379
- “conventionally” frequency rank
- 31041
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | conventional | conventionally |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pertaining to a convention, as in following generally accepted principles, methods and behaviour. | Ordinarily, by convention. |
Where the eye mixes conventional and conventionally
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 12 letters in sequence. conventional runs 12 letters (CVCCVCCVVCVC) against conventionally's 14 (CVCCVCCVVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: conventional vs conventionally
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: conventional is /kənˈvɛnʃənl̩/ while conventionally is /kənˈvɛnʃənəli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “conventional” sits inside “conventionally”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31041, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
conventional is recorded at frequency rank #4,662, classified as anadj, pronounced /kənˈvɛnʃənl̩/. conventionally is at rank #26,379, tagged as anadv, pronounced /kənˈvɛnʃənəli/.
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 31041, this pair ranks #349,533 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of conventional vs conventionally
Shared letters: aceilnotv. Private to "conventional": -. Private to "conventionally": y.
"conventional" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVCVC · "conventionally" · 14 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- conventional ← cconventional · cnoventional · conevntional · connventional · convenitonal · convenntional · conventinoal · conventioanl
- conventionally ← cconventionally · cnoventionally · conevntionally · connventionally · convenitonally · convenntionally · conventinoally · conventioanlly
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "conventional" and "conventionally" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "conventional" vs "conventionally" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "conventional" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "conventionally" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #349,533 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "conventional" and "conventionally" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conventional vs conventions". 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 #349,533 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.