Which to use
“unlikely” and “untimely” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,279
- “unlikely” frequency rank
- #24,945
- “untimely” frequency rank
- 29224
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | unlikely | untimely |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Not likely; improbable; not to be reasonably expected. | At an inopportune time. |
Where the eye mixes unlikely and untimely
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. unlikely (/ʌnˈlaɪkli/) and untimely (/ʌnˈtaɪmli/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
unlikely is recorded at frequency rank #4,279, classified as anadj, pronounced /ʌnˈlaɪkli/. untimely is at rank #24,945, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ʌnˈtaɪmli/.
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 29224, this pair ranks #364,804 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of unlikely vs untimely
Shared letters: eilnuy. Private to "unlikely": k. Private to "untimely": mt.
"unlikely" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV · "untimely" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV