Which to use
“rough” is an adjective and “roughly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,083
- “rough” frequency rank
- #3,905
- “roughly” frequency rank
- 6988
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rough | roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Not smooth; uneven. | In a rough manner; without kindness, softness, or gentleness. |
Where the eye mixes rough and roughly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses rough with roughly
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rough is /ɹʌf/ while roughly is /ˈɹʌf.li/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “rough” sits inside “roughly”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6988, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rough is recorded at frequency rank #3,083, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɹʌf/. roughly is at rank #3,905, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈɹʌf.li/.
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 6988, this pair ranks #509,081 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of rough vs roughly
Shared letters: ghoru. Private to "rough": -. Private to "roughly": ly.
"rough" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "roughly" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "rough" for "roughly" ever safe?
Which is more common, "rough" or "roughly"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "rough" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "roughly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #509,081 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rough" and "roughly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "roughly vs roundly". 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 #509,081 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.