verily vs very, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“verily” and “very” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,272
“verily” frequency rank: #106
“very” frequency rank: 37378
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	verily	very
Definition	Truly; doubtless; honestly; in truth.	To a great extent or degree.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set verily and very apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

verily

4 ch

very

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. verily (/ˈvɛɹ.əl.i/) and very (/ˈvɛɹi/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37378, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verily is recorded at frequency rank #37,272, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈvɛɹ.əl.i/. very is at rank #106, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈvɛɹi/.

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 37378, this pair ranks #295,082 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verily vs very

Shared letters: ervy. Private to "verily": il. Private to "very": -.

"verily" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "very" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

verily ← evrily · veirly · verilly · verilyy · veriyl · verliy · verrily · vreily
very ← evry · verry · veryy · veyr · vrey · vvery

Frequency comparison

verily#37,272

very#106

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verily" and "very" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈvɛɹ.əl.i/ versus /ˈvɛɹi/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "verily" or "very"?

"very" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #106 in our English list, against #37,272 for "verily". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering verily vs very

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “verily” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable