# first vs firstly

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### first
*adjective · IPA /fɜːst/ · frequency rank #81*
Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest.

### firstly
*adverb · IPA /ˈfɜɹstli/ · frequency rank #10,694*
In the first place; before anything else; first.

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