# unlawful vs unlawfully

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### unlawful
*adjective · frequency rank #10,960*
Prohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law; see illegal)

### unlawfully
*adverb · IPA /ʌnˈlɔːfəli/ · frequency rank #25,963*
In a manner not conforming to the law.

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