Which to use
“legally” and “locally” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,058
- “legally” frequency rank
- #5,980
- “locally” frequency rank
- 11038
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | legally | locally |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | As permitted by law; not contrary to law. | With respect to place; in place. |
Where the eye mixes legally and locally
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. legally and locally follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between legally and locally
A purely visual mix-up. legally (/ˈliːɡəli/) and locally (/ˈləʊkəli/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11038, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
legally is recorded at frequency rank #5,058, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈliːɡəli/. locally is at rank #5,980, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈləʊkəli/.
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 11038, this pair ranks #489,206 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of legally vs locally
Shared letters: aly. Private to "legally": eg. Private to "locally": co.
"legally" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "locally" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "legally" for "locally" ever safe?
Frequency check: "legally" vs "locally" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "legally" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "locally" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #489,206 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "legally" and "locally" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lally vs locally". 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 #489,206 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.