nonchalantvsnonchalantlyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: nonchalant is a adjective, nonchalantly is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nonchalant” is an adjective and “nonchalantly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,933
“nonchalant” frequency rank
#48,382
“nonchalantly” frequency rank
88315
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nonchalant nonchalantly
Definition Casually calm and relaxed. In a nonchalant manner.

Letter map: nonchalant vs nonchalantly

Shared letters muted; letters that set nonchalant and nonchalantly apart highlighted. Shared run: 10.

10 ch
nonchalant
12 ch
nonchalantly

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: nonchalant is anadjective and nonchalantlyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “nonchalant” sits inside “nonchalantly”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nonchalant is recorded at frequency rank #39,933, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈnɒn.ʃəl.ənt/. nonchalantly is at rank #48,382, 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 88315, this pair ranks #6,506 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of nonchalant vs nonchalantly

Shared letters: achlnot. Private to "nonchalant": -. Private to "nonchalantly": y.

"nonchalant" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCC  ·  "nonchalantly" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nonchalantnnochalant · nnonchalant · nocnhalant · noncahlant · noncchalant · nonchaalnt · nonchalannt · nonchalantt
  • nonchalantlynnochalantly · nnonchalantly · nocnhalantly · noncahlantly · noncchalantly · nonchaalntly · nonchalanlty · nonchalanntly

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nonchalant" and "nonchalantly" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nonchalant" is an adjective and "nonchalantly" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nonchalant" or "nonchalantly"?
"nonchalant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,933 in our English list, against #48,382 for "nonchalantly". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list