eloquentvseloquentlyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: eloquent is a adjective, eloquently is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“eloquent” is an adjective and “eloquently” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,069
“eloquent” frequency rank
#30,408
“eloquently” frequency rank
52477
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eloquent eloquently
Definition Fluently persuasive and articulate. In an eloquent manner; stated well.

Letter map: eloquent vs eloquently

Shared letters muted; letters that set eloquent and eloquently apart highlighted. Shared run: 8.

8 ch
eloquent
10 ch
eloquently

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: eloquent is anadjective and eloquentlyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “eloquent” sits inside “eloquently”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52477, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eloquent is recorded at frequency rank #22,069, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈɛl.əˌkwənt/. eloquently is at rank #30,408, 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 52477, this pair ranks #156,675 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of eloquent vs eloquently

Shared letters: elnoqtu. Private to "eloquent": -. Private to "eloquently": y.

"eloquent" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVVCC  ·  "eloquently" · 10 letters · shape VCVCVVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eloquentelloquent · eloqeunt · eloqquent · eloquennt · eloquentt · eloquetn · eloqunet · elouqent
  • eloquentlyelloquently · eloqeuntly · eloqquently · eloquenlty · eloquenntly · eloquentlly · eloquentlyy · eloquenttly

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "eloquent" and "eloquently" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "eloquent" is an adjective and "eloquently" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "eloquent" or "eloquently"?
"eloquent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,069 in our English list, against #30,408 for "eloquently". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list