Which to use
“supervisor” is a noun and “supervisory” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,749
- “supervisor” frequency rank
- #19,221
- “supervisory” frequency rank
- 26970
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | supervisor | supervisory |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A person with the official task of overseeing the work of a person or group, or of other operations and activities. | Of, pertaining to, or in the capacity of a supervisor |
Letter map: supervisor vs supervisory
Shared letters muted; letters that set supervisor and supervisory apart highlighted. Shared run: 10.
Grammar separator: supervisor vs supervisory
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: supervisor is anoun and supervisoryanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “supervisor” sits inside “supervisory”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26970, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
supervisor is recorded at frequency rank #7,749, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsuːpəˌvaɪzə(ɹ)/. supervisory is at rank #19,221, tagged as anadj.
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 26970, this pair ranks #382,635 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of supervisor vs supervisory
Shared letters: eioprsuv. Private to "supervisor": -. Private to "supervisory": y.
"supervisor" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVC · "supervisory" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- supervisor ← spuervisor · ssupervisor · sueprvisor · superivsor · superrvisor · superviosr · supervisorr · supervisro
- supervisory ← spuervisory · ssupervisory · sueprvisory · superivsory · superrvisory · superviosry · supervisorry · supervisoryy
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "supervisor" for "supervisory" ever safe?
Which is more common, "supervisor" or "supervisory"?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "supervisor" and "supervisory".
- Full dictionary entry for "supervisor" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "supervisory" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #382,635 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "supervisor" and "supervisory" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "supervise vs supervisor". 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 #382,635 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.