Which to use
“possible” is an adjective and “possibly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #438
- “possible” frequency rank
- #1,770
- “possibly” frequency rank
- 2208
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | possible | possibly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Able but not certain to happen; neither inevitable nor impossible. | Perhaps; indicates that the proposition may be true (is not certainly false) regardless of any facts or circumstances known to, stated by or implied by the speaker. |
Where the eye mixes possible and possibly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between possible and possibly
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: possible is /ˈpɒs.ə.bəl/ while possibly is /ˈpɒs.ə.bli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “possible” becomes y in “possibly”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2208, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
possible is recorded at frequency rank #438, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɒs.ə.bəl/. possibly is at rank #1,770, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈpɒs.ə.bli/.
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 2208, this pair ranks #525,582 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of possible vs possibly
Shared letters: bilops. Private to "possible": e. Private to "possibly": y.
"possible" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "possibly" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "possible" for "possibly" ever safe?
Frequency check: "possible" vs "possibly" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "possible" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "possibly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #525,582 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "possible" and "possibly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "passable vs possible". Nearby pair
- 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 #525,582 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.