Which to use
“reluctant” is an adjective and “reluctantly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,522
- “reluctant” frequency rank
- #16,111
- “reluctantly” frequency rank
- 25633
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reluctant | reluctantly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Not wanting to take some action; unwilling to do something. | In a reluctant or hesitant manner. |
Where the eye mixes reluctant and reluctantly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. reluctant runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCC) against reluctantly's 11 (CVCVCCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: reluctant vs reluctantly
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reluctant is /ɹɪˈlʌktənt/ while reluctantly is /ɹɪˈlʌktəntli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “reluctant” sits inside “reluctantly”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25633, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reluctant is recorded at frequency rank #9,522, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɹɪˈlʌktənt/. reluctantly is at rank #16,111, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ɹɪˈlʌktəntli/.
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 25633, this pair ranks #392,782 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of reluctant vs reluctantly
Shared letters: acelnrtu. Private to "reluctant": -. Private to "reluctantly": y.
"reluctant" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC · "reluctantly" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- reluctant ← erluctant · relcutant · relluctant · relucatnt · relucctant · reluctannt · reluctantt · reluctatn
- reluctantly ← erluctantly · relcutantly · relluctantly · relucatntly · relucctantly · reluctanlty · reluctanntly · reluctantlly
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "reluctant" for "reluctantly" ever safe?
Frequency check: "reluctant" vs "reluctantly" - 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 "reluctant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "reluctantly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #392,782 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reluctant" and "reluctantly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reluctant vs resultant". 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 #392,782 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.