Which to use
“vigorous” is an adjective and “vigorously” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,939
- “vigorous” frequency rank
- #17,516
- “vigorously” frequency rank
- 33455
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vigorous | vigorously |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Physically strong and active. | With intense energy, force or vigor |
Where the eye mixes vigorous and vigorously
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vigorous is /ˈvɪɡəɹəs/ while vigorously is /ˈvɪɡəɹəsli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “vigorous” sits inside “vigorously”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33455, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vigorous is recorded at frequency rank #15,939, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈvɪɡəɹəs/. vigorously is at rank #17,516, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈvɪɡəɹəsli/.
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 33455, this pair ranks #329,301 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vigorous vs vigorously
Shared letters: giorsuv. Private to "vigorous": -. Private to "vigorously": ly.
"vigorous" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC · "vigorously" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- vigorous ← ivgorous · vgiorous · viggorous · vigoorus · vigorosu · vigorouss · vigorrous · vigoruos
- vigorously ← ivgorously · vgiorously · viggorously · vigoorusly · vigorosuly · vigoroulsy · vigorouslly · vigorouslyy
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "vigorous" and "vigorously" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "vigorous" or "vigorously"?
What to do next
You've compared "vigorous" and "vigorously". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "vigorous" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vigorously" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #329,301 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.