Which to use
“unusual” is an adjective and “unusually” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,343
- “unusual” frequency rank
- #10,305
- “unusually” frequency rank
- 13648
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | unusual | unusually |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Not usual, out of the ordinary. | In an unusual manner. |
Where the eye mixes unusual and unusually
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: unusual is /ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/ while unusually is /ʌnˈjuːʒuəli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “unusual” sits inside “unusually”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13648, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
unusual is recorded at frequency rank #3,343, classified as anadj, pronounced /ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/. unusually is at rank #10,305, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ʌnˈjuːʒuəli/.
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 13648, this pair ranks #474,586 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of unusual vs unusually
Shared letters: alnsu. Private to "unusual": -. Private to "unusually": y.
"unusual" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVVC · "unusually" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVVCCV