Which to use
“notorious” is an adjective and “notoriously” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,218
- “notorious” frequency rank
- #17,911
- “notoriously” frequency rank
- 27129
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | notorious | notoriously |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Senses with an unfavourable connotation. | In a notorious or notable manner; as is commonly known. |
Where the eye mixes notorious and notoriously
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. notorious runs 9 letters (CVCVCVVVC) against notoriously's 11 (CVCVCVVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses notorious with notoriously
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: notorious is /nə(ʊ)ˈtɔː.ɹɪ.əs/ while notoriously is /nəˈtɔːɹɪəsli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “notorious” sits inside “notoriously”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27129, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
notorious is recorded at frequency rank #9,218, classified as anadj, pronounced /nə(ʊ)ˈtɔː.ɹɪ.əs/. notoriously is at rank #17,911, tagged as anadv, pronounced /nəˈtɔːɹɪəsli/.
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 27129, this pair ranks #381,391 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of notorious vs notoriously
Shared letters: inorstu. Private to "notorious": -. Private to "notoriously": ly.
"notorious" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVVVC · "notoriously" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCVVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- notorious ← nnotorious · nootrious · notoirous · notoriosu · notoriouss · notoriuos · notoroius · notorrious
- notoriously ← nnotoriously · nootriously · notoirously · notoriosuly · notorioulsy · notoriouslly · notoriouslyy · notorioussly
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "notorious" for "notoriously" ever safe?
Frequency check: "notorious" vs "notoriously" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "notorious" and "notoriously" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "notorious" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "notoriously" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #381,391 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 #381,391 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.