Which to use
“masterful” is an adjective and “masterfully” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,880
- “masterful” frequency rank
- #48,887
- “masterfully” frequency rank
- 75767
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | masterful | masterfully |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Of or pertaining to the manner of a master of an art, technique, profession, or craft; masterly. | In a masterful manner; in an extremely confident and competent manner. |
Letter map: masterful vs masterfully
Shared letters muted; letters that set masterful and masterfully apart highlighted. Shared run: 9.
Grammar separator: masterful vs masterfully
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: masterful is anadjective and masterfullyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “masterful” sits inside “masterfully”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75767, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
masterful is recorded at frequency rank #26,880, classified as anadj. masterfully is at rank #48,887, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈmɑːstəf(ʊ)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 75767, this pair ranks #32,079 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of masterful vs masterfully
Shared letters: aeflmrstu. Private to "masterful": -. Private to "masterfully": y.
"masterful" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "masterfully" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- masterful ← amsterful · masetrful · massterful · mastefrul · masterfful · masterflu · masterfull · masterrful
- masterfully ← amsterfully · masetrfully · massterfully · mastefrully · masterffully · masterfluly · masterfullyy · masterfuly
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "masterful" for "masterfully" ever safe?
Which is more common, "masterful" or "masterfully"?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "masterful" and "masterfully".
- Full dictionary entry for "masterful" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "masterfully" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #32,079 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- 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 #32,079 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.