Which to use
“disgusting” is an adjective and “disgustingly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,849
- “disgusting” frequency rank
- #48,704
- “disgustingly” frequency rank
- 53553
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | disgusting | disgustingly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Causing disgust; repulsive; distasteful. | In a disgusting manner. |
Letter map: disgusting vs disgustingly
Shared letters muted; letters that set disgusting and disgustingly apart highlighted. Shared run: 10. disgusting runs 10 letters (CVCCVCCVCC) against disgustingly's 12 (CVCCVCCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - disgusting and disgustingly
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: disgusting is anadjective and disgustinglyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “disgusting” sits inside “disgustingly”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53553, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
disgusting is recorded at frequency rank #4,849, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɪsˈɡʌstɪŋ/. disgustingly is at rank #48,704, 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 53553, this pair ranks #148,022 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of disgusting vs disgustingly
Shared letters: dginstu. Private to "disgusting": -. Private to "disgustingly": ly.
"disgusting" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC · "disgustingly" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- disgusting ← ddisgusting · digsusting · disggusting · disgsuting · disgusitng · disgussting · disgustign · disgustingg
- disgustingly ← ddisgustingly · digsustingly · disggustingly · disgsutingly · disgusitngly · disgusstingly · disgustignly · disgustinggly
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "disgusting" and "disgustingly" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "disgusting" or "disgustingly"?
What to do next
You've compared "disgusting" and "disgustingly". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "disgusting" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "disgustingly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #148,022 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "disgusting" and "disgustingly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "disguising vs disgusting". 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 #148,022 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.