environmentalvsenvironmentallyWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#2,040
“environmental” frequency rank
#16,224
“environmentally” frequency rank
18264
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature environmental environmentally
Definition Pertaining to the environment. In a manner affecting the environment.

Letter map: environmental vs environmentally

Shared letters muted; letters that set environmental and environmentally apart highlighted. Shared run: 13.

13 ch
environmental
15 ch
environmentally

Grammar separator: environmental vs environmentally

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: environmental is anadjective and environmentallyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “environmental” sits inside “environmentally”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18264, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

environmental is recorded at frequency rank #2,040, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɪnˌvaɪ.ɹə(n)ˈmɛn.təl/. environmentally is at rank #16,224, 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 18264, this pair ranks #446,043 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of environmental vs environmentally

Shared letters: aeilmnortv. Private to "environmental": -. Private to "environmentally": y.

"environmental" · 13 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVCCVC  ·  "environmentally" · 15 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • environmentalenivronmental · ennvironmental · enviornmental · envirnomental · enviromnental · environemntal · environmenatl · environmenntal
  • environmentallyenivronmentally · ennvironmentally · enviornmentally · envirnomentally · enviromnentally · environemntally · environmenatlly · environmenntally

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "environmental" and "environmentally" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "environmental" is an adjective and "environmentally" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "environmental" vs "environmentally" - which ranks higher?
"environmental" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,040 in our English list, against #16,224 for "environmentally". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "environmental" and "environmentally". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "environmental" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "environmentally" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #446,043 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "environmental" and "environmentally" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "environment vs environmental". 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 #446,043 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list