Which to use
“fabulous” is an adjective and “fabulously” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,241
- “fabulous” frequency rank
- #42,127
- “fabulously” frequency rank
- 48368
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fabulous | fabulously |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Of or relating to fable, myth or legend. | In a fabulous manner. |
Where the eye mixes fabulous and fabulously
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between fabulous and fabulously
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fabulous is /ˈfæbjʊləs/ while fabulously is /ˈfæb.jʊ.ləs.li/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “fabulous” sits inside “fabulously”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48368, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fabulous is recorded at frequency rank #6,241, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈfæbjʊləs/. fabulously is at rank #42,127, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈfæb.jʊ.ləs.li/.
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 48368, this pair ranks #193,712 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fabulous vs fabulously
Shared letters: abflosu. Private to "fabulous": -. Private to "fabulously": y.
"fabulous" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC · "fabulously" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fabulous ← afbulous · fabbulous · fabluous · fabullous · fabulosu · fabulouss · fabuluos · fabuolus
- fabulously ← afbulously · fabbulously · fabluously · fabullously · fabulosuly · fabuloulsy · fabulouslly · fabulouslyy
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fabulous" for "fabulously" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fabulous" or "fabulously"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fabulous" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fabulously" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #193,712 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- 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 #193,712 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.