Which to use
“doubly” and “duly” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,248
- “doubly” frequency rank
- #16,220
- “duly” frequency rank
- 39468
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | doubly | duly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | In a double manner; with twice the severity or degree. | In a due, fit, or becoming manner; as it ought to be; suitably; properly. |
Where the eye mixes doubly and duly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. doubly runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against duly's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between doubly and duly
A purely visual mix-up. doubly (/ˈdʌb.li/) and duly (/ˈdʒuːli/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39468, 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/. duly is at rank #16,220, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈdʒuːli/.
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 39468, this pair ranks #276,414 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of doubly vs duly
Shared letters: dluy. Private to "doubly": bo. Private to "duly": -.
"doubly" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "duly" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "doubly" for "duly" ever safe?
Which is more common, "doubly" or "duly"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "doubly" and "duly" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "doubly" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "duly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #276,414 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "doubly" and "duly" 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 #276,414 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.