Which to use
“morbid” is an adjective and “morbidly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,711
- “morbid” frequency rank
- #48,364
- “morbidly” frequency rank
- 69075
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | morbid | morbidly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Of, relating to, or afflicted by disease. | In a morbid manner, or to a morbid degree. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set morbid and morbidly apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: morbid is /ˈmɔː.bɪd/ while morbidly is /ˈmɔrbɪdli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “morbid” sits inside “morbidly”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69075, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
morbid is recorded at frequency rank #20,711, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈmɔː.bɪd/. morbidly is at rank #48,364, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈmɔrbɪdli/.
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 69075, this pair ranks #56,083 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of morbid vs morbidly
Shared letters: bdimor. Private to "morbid": -. Private to "morbidly": ly.
"morbid" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "morbidly" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "morbid" and "morbidly" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "morbid" or "morbidly"?
Remembering morbid vs morbidly
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “morbid”; for an adverb, it's “morbidly”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “morbid” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable