Which to use
“profound” is an adjective and “profoundly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,835
- “profound” frequency rank
- #14,816
- “profoundly” frequency rank
- 22651
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | profound | profoundly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Descending far below the surface; opening or reaching to great depth; deep. | With depth, meaningfully. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set profound and profoundly apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: profound is /pɹəˈfaʊnd/ while profoundly is /pɹəˈfaʊndli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “profound” sits inside “profoundly”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22651, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
profound is recorded at frequency rank #7,835, classified as anadj, pronounced /pɹəˈfaʊnd/. profoundly is at rank #14,816, tagged as anadv, pronounced /pɹəˈfaʊndli/.
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 22651, this pair ranks #415,004 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of profound vs profoundly
Shared letters: dfnopru. Private to "profound": -. Private to "profoundly": ly.
"profound" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVVCC · "profoundly" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- profound ← porfound · pprofound · prfoound · proffound · profonud · profoudn · profoundd · profounnd
- profoundly ← porfoundly · pprofoundly · prfooundly · proffoundly · profonudly · profoudnly · profounddly · profoundlly
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "profound" and "profoundly" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "profound" or "profoundly"?
Remembering profound vs profoundly
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “profound”; for an adverb, it's “profoundly”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “profound” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable