# painful vs painfully

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### painful
*adjective · IPA /ˈpeɪn.fl̩/ · frequency rank #4,179*
Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental.

### painfully
*adverb · IPA /ˈpeɪnfəli/ · frequency rank #15,673*
In a painful manner; as if in pain.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/painful-vs-painfully