# theoretical vs theoretically

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### theoretical
*adjective · IPA /ˌθɪəˈɹɛtɪkəl/ · frequency rank #7,070*
Of or relating to theory; abstract; not empirical.

### theoretically
*adverb · frequency rank #12,342*
in theory; on paper

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/theoretical-vs-theoretically