Which to use
“greatly” is an adverb and “greats” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,090
- “greatly” frequency rank
- #19,849
- “greats” frequency rank
- 23939
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | greatly | greats |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To a great extent or degree. | plural of great |
Where the eye mixes greatly and greats
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. greatly runs 7 letters (CCVVCCV) against greats's 6 (CCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between greatly and greats
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: greatly is /ˈɡɹeɪtli/ while greats is /ɡɹeɪts/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23939, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
greatly is recorded at frequency rank #4,090, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈɡɹeɪtli/. greats is at rank #19,849, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹeɪts/.
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 23939, this pair ranks #405,685 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of greatly vs greats
Shared letters: aegrt. Private to "greatly": ly. Private to "greats": s.
"greatly" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV · "greats" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "greatly" and "greats" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "greatly" or "greats"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "greatly" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "greats" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #405,685 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "greatly" and "greats" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grates vs greats". 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 #405,685 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.