# empirical vs empirically

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### empirical
*adjective · IPA /ɪmˈpɪɹɪkəl/ · frequency rank #12,590*
Pertaining to or based on experience, as opposed to theory.

### empirically
*adverb · frequency rank #33,635*
Based on experience as opposed to theoretical knowledge.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/empirical-vs-empirically