vitalityvsvitallyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: vitality is a noun, vitally is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vitality” is a noun and “vitally” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,055
“vitality” frequency rank
#31,401
“vitally” frequency rank
48456
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vitality vitally
Definition The capacity to live and develop. In a manner that imparts vitality

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set vitality and vitally apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
vitality
7 ch
vitally

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vitality is /vaɪˈtælɪti/ while vitally is /ˈvaɪ.tə.li/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48456, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vitality is recorded at frequency rank #17,055, classified as anoun, pronounced /vaɪˈtælɪti/. vitally is at rank #31,401, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈvaɪ.tə.li/.

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 48456, this pair ranks #192,912 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vitality vs vitally

Shared letters: ailtvy. Private to "vitality": -. Private to "vitally": -.

"vitality" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "vitally" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vitalityivtality · viatlity · vitailty · vitalitty · vitalityy · vitaliyt · vitallity · vitaltiy
  • vitallyivtally · viatlly · vitallyy · vitaly · vitalyl · vitlaly · vittally · vtially

Frequency comparison

vitality#17,055
vitally#31,401

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vitality" and "vitally" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vitality" is a noun and "vitally" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vitality" or "vitally"?
"vitality" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,055 in our English list, against #31,401 for "vitally". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering vitality vs vitally

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “vitality”; for an adverb, it's “vitally”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “vitality” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list