Which to use
“feel” is a verb and “feely” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #201
- “feel” frequency rank
- #46,460
- “feely” frequency rank
- 46661
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | feel | feely |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To use or experience the sense of touch. | soft; smooth; velvety |
Where the eye mixes feel and feely
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses feel with feely
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: feel is /fiːl/ while feely is /ˈfiːli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “feel” sits inside “feely”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46661, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
feel is recorded at frequency rank #201, classified as averb, pronounced /fiːl/. feely is at rank #46,460, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfiːli/.
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 46661, this pair ranks #209,644 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of feel vs feely
Shared letters: efl. Private to "feel": -. Private to "feely": y.
"feel" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "feely" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "feel" for "feely" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "feel" or "feely" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "feel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "feely" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #209,644 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "feel" and "feely" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feely vs Feeney". 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 #209,644 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.