Which to use
“moderate” is an adjective and “moderately” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,541
- “moderate” frequency rank
- #13,762
- “moderately” frequency rank
- 18303
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | moderate | moderately |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Not excessive; acting in moderation | In a moderate manner. |
Letter map: moderate vs moderately
Shared letters muted; letters that set moderate and moderately apart highlighted. Shared run: 8.
Grammar separator: moderate vs moderately
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: moderate is anadjective and moderatelyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “moderate” sits inside “moderately”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18303, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
moderate is recorded at frequency rank #4,541, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈmɒdəɹət/. moderately is at rank #13,762, 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 18303, this pair ranks #445,792 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of moderate vs moderately
Shared letters: ademort. Private to "moderate": -. Private to "moderately": ly.
"moderate" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV · "moderately" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- moderate ← mdoerate · mmoderate · modderate · modearte · moderaet · moderatte · moderrate · modertae
- moderately ← mdoerately · mmoderately · modderately · modeartely · moderaetly · moderatelly · moderatelyy · moderateyl
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "moderate" for "moderately" ever safe?
Which is more common, "moderate" or "moderately"?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "moderate" and "moderately".
- Full dictionary entry for "moderate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "moderately" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #445,792 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "moderate" and "moderately" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "moderate vs modulate". 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 #445,792 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.