Which to use
“radical” is an adjective and “radically” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,112
- “radical” frequency rank
- #14,197
- “radically” frequency rank
- 18309
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | radical | radically |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Favoring fundamental change, or change at the root cause of a matter. | In a radical manner; fundamentally; very. |
Where the eye mixes radical and radically
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses radical with radically
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: radical is /ˈɹædɪkəl/ while radically is /ˈɹædɪkli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “radical” sits inside “radically”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18309, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
radical is recorded at frequency rank #4,112, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈɹædɪkəl/. radically is at rank #14,197, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈɹædɪkli/.
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 18309, this pair ranks #445,747 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of radical vs radically
Shared letters: acdilr. Private to "radical": -. Private to "radically": y.
"radical" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "radically" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "radical" and "radically" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "radical" vs "radically" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "radical" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "radically" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #445,747 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "radical" and "radically" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "racially vs radically". 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 #445,747 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.