Which to use
“unduly” is an adverb and “unholy” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,875
- “unduly” frequency rank
- #26,645
- “unholy” frequency rank
- 56520
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | unduly | unholy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Undeservedly; in a way that is not warranted. | Not holy; (by extension) evil, impure, or otherwise perverted. |
Where the eye mixes unduly and unholy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. unduly and unholy follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: unduly vs unholy
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: unduly is /ʌnˈdjuːli/ while unholy is /ʌnˈhəʊli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56520, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
unduly is recorded at frequency rank #29,875, classified as anadv, pronounced /ʌnˈdjuːli/. unholy is at rank #26,645, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ʌnˈhəʊli/.
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 56520, this pair ranks #125,689 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of unduly vs unholy
Shared letters: lnuy. Private to "unduly": d. Private to "unholy": ho.
"unduly" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "unholy" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "unduly" and "unholy" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "unduly" or "unholy"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "unduly" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "unholy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #125,689 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "unduly" and "unholy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "unholy vs unsold". 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 #125,689 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.