Which to use
“hysterical” is an adjective and “hysterically” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,427
- “hysterical” frequency rank
- #31,213
- “hysterically” frequency rank
- 46640
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hysterical | hysterically |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Of, or arising from hysteria. | In a hysterical manner; showing signs of hysteria. |
Letter map: hysterical vs hysterically
Shared letters muted; letters that set hysterical and hysterically apart highlighted. Shared run: 10. hysterical runs 10 letters (CVCCVCVCVC) against hysterically's 12 (CVCCVCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: hysterical vs hysterically
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hysterical is anadjective and hystericallyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “hysterical” sits inside “hysterically”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46640, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hysterical is recorded at frequency rank #15,427, classified as anadj, pronounced /hɪˈstɛɹɪkəl/. hysterically is at rank #31,213, 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 46640, this pair ranks #209,836 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hysterical vs hysterically
Shared letters: acehilrsty. Private to "hysterical": -. Private to "hysterically": -.
"hysterical" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC · "hysterically" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- hysterical ← hhysterical · hsyterical · hysetrical · hyssterical · hysteircal · hystercial · hysteriacl · hystericall
- hysterically ← hhysterically · hsyterically · hysetrically · hyssterically · hysteircally · hystercially · hysteriaclly · hystericallyy
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hysterical" and "hysterically" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "hysterical" vs "hysterically" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pair "hysterical" vs "hysterically" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "hysterical" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hysterically" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #209,836 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hysterical" and "hysterically" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hysterical vs hysterics". 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 #209,836 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.