Which to use
“single” is an adjective and “singly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #380
- “single” frequency rank
- #40,448
- “singly” frequency rank
- 40828
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | single | singly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Not accompanied by anything else; one in number. | In a single or unaccompanied manner; without a companion. |
Where the eye mixes single and singly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: single vs singly
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: single is /ˈsɪŋɡl̩/ while singly is /ˈsɪŋ.ɡli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “single” becomes y in “singly”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40828, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
single is recorded at frequency rank #380, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈsɪŋɡl̩/. singly is at rank #40,448, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈsɪŋ.ɡli/.
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 40828, this pair ranks #264,036 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of single vs singly
Shared letters: gilns. Private to "single": e. Private to "singly": y.
"single" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "singly" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "single" for "singly" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "single" or "singly" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "single" and "singly" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "single" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "singly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #264,036 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "single" and "singly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "singlet vs singly". 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 #264,036 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.