Which to use
“general” is an adjective and “generally” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #320
- “general” frequency rank
- #1,186
- “generally” frequency rank
- 1506
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | general | generally |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Including or involving every part or member of a given or implied entity, whole, etc.; common to all, universal. | Popularly or widely. |
Where the eye mixes general and generally
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: general vs generally
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: general is /ˈd͡ʒɛn.(ə.)ɹəl/ while generally is /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ɹə.li/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “general” sits inside “generally”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1506, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
general is recorded at frequency rank #320, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈd͡ʒɛn.(ə.)ɹəl/. generally is at rank #1,186, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ɹə.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 1506, this pair ranks #527,292 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of general vs generally
Shared letters: aeglnr. Private to "general": -. Private to "generally": y.
"general" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "generally" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "general" and "generally" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "general" or "generally" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "general" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "generally" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #527,292 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "general" and "generally" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "generally vs generically". 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 #527,292 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.