Which to use
“morality” is a noun and “morally” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,830
- “morality” frequency rank
- #12,462
- “morally” frequency rank
- 21292
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | morality | morally |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Recognition of the distinction between good and evil or between right and wrong; respect for and obedience to the rules of right conduct; the mental disposition or characteristic of behaving in a manner intended to produce morally good results. | In terms of morals or ethics. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set morality and morally apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
morality and morally form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21292, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
morality is recorded at frequency rank #8,830, classified as anoun, pronounced /məˈɹælɪti/. morally is at rank #12,462, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈmɔɹəli/.
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 21292, this pair ranks #424,943 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "morality" and "morally" be used interchangeably?
Remembering morality vs morally
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “morality”; for an adverb, it's “morally”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “morality” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable