vehementvsvehementlyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: vehement is a adjective, vehemently is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vehement” is an adjective and “vehemently” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,251
“vehement” frequency rank
#23,428
“vehemently” frequency rank
69679
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vehement vehemently
Definition Showing strong feelings; passionate; forceful or intense. In a vehement manner; expressing with a strong or forceful attitude.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set vehement and vehemently apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
vehement
10 ch
vehemently

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vehement is /ˈviː.ə.mənt/ while vehemently is /ˈviː.ə.məntli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “vehement” sits inside “vehemently”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69679, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vehement is recorded at frequency rank #46,251, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈviː.ə.mənt/. vehemently is at rank #23,428, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈviː.ə.məntli/.

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 69679, this pair ranks #53,548 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vehement vs vehemently

Shared letters: ehmntv. Private to "vehement": -. Private to "vehemently": ly.

"vehement" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC  ·  "vehemently" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vehementevhement · veehment · veheemnt · vehemennt · vehementt · vehemetn · vehemment · vehemnet
  • vehementlyevhemently · veehmently · veheemntly · vehemenlty · vehemenntly · vehementlly · vehementlyy · vehementtly

Frequency comparison

vehement#46,251
vehemently#23,428

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vehement" and "vehemently" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vehement" is an adjective and "vehemently" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vehement" or "vehemently"?
"vehemently" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,428 in our English list, against #46,251 for "vehement". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering vehement vs vehemently

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “vehement”; for an adverb, it's “vehemently”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “vehement” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list