Which to use
“true” is an adjective and “truly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #393
- “true” frequency rank
- #1,442
- “truly” frequency rank
- 1835
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | true | truly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Conforming to the actual state of reality or fact; factually correct. | In accordance with the facts; truthfully, accurately. |
Where the eye mixes true and truly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: true is /tɹuː/ while truly is /ˈtɹuːli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1835, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
true is recorded at frequency rank #393, classified as anadj, pronounced /tɹuː/. truly is at rank #1,442, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈtɹuːli/.
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 1835, this pair ranks #526,519 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of true vs truly
Shared letters: rtu. Private to "true": e. Private to "truly": ly.
"true" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "truly" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV