Which to use
“doubly” is an adverb and “doubts” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,248
- “doubly” frequency rank
- #7,677
- “doubts” frequency rank
- 30925
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | doubly | doubts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | In a double manner; with twice the severity or degree. | plural of doubt |
Where the eye mixes doubly and doubts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. doubly (CVVCCV) and doubts (CVVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses doubly with doubts
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: doubly is /ˈdʌb.li/ while doubts is /daʊts/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30925, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
doubly is recorded at frequency rank #23,248, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈdʌb.li/. doubts is at rank #7,677, tagged as anoun, pronounced /daʊts/.
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 30925, this pair ranks #350,465 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of doubly vs doubts
Shared letters: bdou. Private to "doubly": ly. Private to "doubts": st.
"doubly" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "doubts" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "doubly" for "doubts" ever safe?
Frequency check: "doubly" vs "doubts" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "doubly" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "doubts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #350,465 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "doubly" and "doubts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dobby vs doubly". 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 #350,465 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.