Which to use
“verbal” is an adjective and “verbally” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,225
- “verbal” frequency rank
- #17,054
- “verbally” frequency rank
- 25279
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | verbal | verbally |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Of or relating to words. | In a verbal manner; with words; by speaking. |
Letter map: verbal vs verbally
Shared letters muted; letters that set verbal and verbally apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: verbal is anadjective and verballyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “verbal” sits inside “verbally”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25279, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
verbal is recorded at frequency rank #8,225, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈvɜː.bəl/. verbally is at rank #17,054, tagged as anadv.
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 25279, this pair ranks #395,524 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of verbal vs verbally
Shared letters: abelrv. Private to "verbal": -. Private to "verbally": y.
"verbal" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "verbally" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV