parodyvspartlyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: parody is a noun, partly is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“parody” is a noun and “partly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,932
“parody” frequency rank
#4,318
“partly” frequency rank
14250
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature parody partly
Definition A work or performance that imitates another work or performance with ridicule or irony. In part, or to some degree, but not completely.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set parody and partly apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
parody
6 ch
partly

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: parody is /ˈpæɹədi/ while partly is /ˈpɑɹtli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14250, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

parody is recorded at frequency rank #9,932, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpæɹədi/. partly is at rank #4,318, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈpɑɹtli/.

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 14250, this pair ranks #471,157 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of parody vs partly

Shared letters: apry. Private to "parody": do. Private to "partly": lt.

"parody" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "partly" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • parodyaprody · paordy · pardoy · paroddy · parodyy · paroyd · parrody · pparody
  • partlyaprtly · parlty · parrtly · partlly · partlyy · parttly · partyl · patrly

Frequency comparison

parody#9,932
partly#4,318

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "parody" and "partly" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "parody" is a noun and "partly" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "parody" or "partly"?
"partly" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,318 in our English list, against #9,932 for "parody". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering parody vs partly

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “parody”; for an adverb, it's “partly”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “parody” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list