Which to use
“unjust” is an adjective and “unjustly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,609
- “unjust” frequency rank
- #31,812
- “unjustly” frequency rank
- 48421
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | unjust | unjustly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Not fair, just or right. | In an unjust manner. |
Where the eye mixes unjust and unjustly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. unjust runs 6 letters (VCCVCC) against unjustly's 8 (VCCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between unjust and unjustly
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: unjust is /ʌnˈd͡ʒʌst/ while unjustly is /ʌnˈd͡ʒʌstli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “unjust” sits inside “unjustly”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48421, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
unjust is recorded at frequency rank #16,609, classified as anadj, pronounced /ʌnˈd͡ʒʌst/. unjustly is at rank #31,812, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ʌnˈd͡ʒʌstli/.
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 48421, this pair ranks #193,223 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of unjust vs unjustly
Shared letters: jnstu. Private to "unjust": -. Private to "unjustly": ly.
"unjust" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "unjustly" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "unjust" and "unjustly" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "unjust" vs "unjustly" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "unjust" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "unjustly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #193,223 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "unjust" and "unjustly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "uncut vs unjust". 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 #193,223 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.