Which to use
“functional” is an adjective and “functionally” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,761
- “functional” frequency rank
- #22,679
- “functionally” frequency rank
- 27440
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | functional | functionally |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | In good working order. | In a functional manner. |
Letter map: functional vs functionally
Shared letters muted; letters that set functional and functionally apart highlighted. Shared run: 10.
Part-of-speech tell for functional / functionally
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: functional is anadjective and functionallyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “functional” sits inside “functionally”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27440, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
functional is recorded at frequency rank #4,761, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈfʌŋkt͡ʃənəl/. functionally is at rank #22,679, 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 27440, this pair ranks #378,887 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of functional vs functionally
Shared letters: acfilnotu. Private to "functional": -. Private to "functionally": y.
"functional" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVVCVC · "functionally" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCVVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- functional ← ffunctional · fnuctional · fucntional · funcctional · funcitonal · functinoal · functioanl · functionall
- functionally ← ffunctionally · fnuctionally · fucntionally · funcctionally · funcitonally · functinoally · functioanlly · functionallyy
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "functional" for "functionally" ever safe?
Which is more common, "functional" or "functionally"?
What to do next
You've compared "functional" and "functionally". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "functional" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "functionally" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #378,887 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "functional" and "functionally" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "factional vs functional". 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 #378,887 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.