Which to use
“dobby” is a noun and “doubly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,337
- “dobby” frequency rank
- #23,248
- “doubly” frequency rank
- 68585
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dobby | doubly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A device in some looms that allows the weaving of small geometric patterns. | In a double manner; with twice the severity or degree. |
Letter map: dobby vs doubly
Shared letters muted; letters that set dobby and doubly apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. dobby runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against doubly's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for dobby / doubly
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dobby is anoun and doublyanadverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68585, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dobby is recorded at frequency rank #45,337, classified as anoun. doubly is at rank #23,248, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈdʌb.li/.
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 68585, this pair ranks #58,239 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dobby vs doubly
Shared letters: bdoy. Private to "dobby": -. Private to "doubly": lu.
"dobby" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "doubly" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dobby" for "doubly" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dobby" or "doubly"?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "dobby" and "doubly".
- Full dictionary entry for "dobby" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "doubly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #58,239 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dobby" and "doubly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dobby vs downy". 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 #58,239 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.