Which to use
“courageous” is an adjective and “courageously” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,127
- “courageous” frequency rank
- #44,140
- “courageously” frequency rank
- 57267
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courageous | courageously |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Of a person, displaying or possessing courage. | In a courageous manner; bravely; boldly. |
Letter map: courageous vs courageously
Shared letters muted; letters that set courageous and courageously apart highlighted. Shared run: 10.
Grammar separator: courageous vs courageously
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: courageous is anadjective and courageouslyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “courageous” sits inside “courageously”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57267, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
courageous is recorded at frequency rank #13,127, classified as anadj, pronounced /kəˈɹeɪd͡ʒəs/. courageously is at rank #44,140, 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 57267, this pair ranks #120,504 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of courageous vs courageously
Shared letters: acegorsu. Private to "courageous": -. Private to "courageously": ly.
"courageous" · 10 letters · shape CVVCVCVVVC · "courageously" · 12 letters · shape CVVCVCVVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- courageous ← ccourageous · coruageous · couargeous · couraegous · courageosu · courageouss · courageuos · couraggeous
- courageously ← ccourageously · coruageously · couargeously · couraegously · courageosuly · courageoulsy · courageouslly · courageouslyy
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "courageous" for "courageously" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "courageous" or "courageously" show up more?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "courageous" and "courageously".
- Full dictionary entry for "courageous" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "courageously" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #120,504 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courageous" and "courageously" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courageous vs courteous". 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 #120,504 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.