Which to use
“voluntarily” is an adverb and “voluntary” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,969
- “voluntarily” frequency rank
- #7,083
- “voluntary” frequency rank
- 18052
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | voluntarily | voluntary |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | In a voluntary manner. | Done, given, or acting of one's own free will. |
Where the eye mixes voluntarily and voluntary
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. voluntarily runs 11 letters (CVCVCCVCVCV) against voluntary's 9 (CVCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses voluntarily with voluntary
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: voluntarily is /ˌvɑlənˈtɛɹɪli/ while voluntary is /ˈvɒl.ən.tɹi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18052, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
voluntarily is recorded at frequency rank #10,969, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˌvɑlənˈtɛɹɪli/. voluntary is at rank #7,083, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈvɒl.ən.tɹi/.
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 18052, this pair ranks #447,432 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of voluntarily vs voluntary
Shared letters: alnortuvy. Private to "voluntarily": i. Private to "voluntary": -.
"voluntarily" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVCV · "voluntary" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- voluntarily ← ovluntarily · vlountarily · volluntarily · volnutarily · volunatrily · volunntarily · voluntairly · voluntarilly
- voluntary ← ovluntary · vlountary · volluntary · volnutary · volunatry · volunntary · voluntarry · voluntaryy
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "voluntarily" for "voluntary" ever safe?
Which is more common, "voluntarily" or "voluntary"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "voluntarily" and "voluntary" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "voluntarily" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "voluntary" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #447,432 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
Confusion rank #447,432 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.