Which to use
“wrong” is an adjective and “wrongly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #409
- “wrong” frequency rank
- #15,943
- “wrongly” frequency rank
- 16352
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wrong | wrongly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Incorrect or untrue. | In violation of a moral or other standard, code, or convention; in an unfair, unjust, dishonest, or immoral manner; wrongly convicted is synonymous with wrongful conviction and miscarriage of justice. |
Where the eye mixes wrong and wrongly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between wrong and wrongly
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wrong is /ˈɹɒŋ/ while wrongly is /ˈɹɒŋ.li/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “wrong” sits inside “wrongly”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16352, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wrong is recorded at frequency rank #409, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈɹɒŋ/. wrongly is at rank #15,943, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈɹɒŋ.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 16352, this pair ranks #458,290 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wrong vs wrongly
Shared letters: gnorw. Private to "wrong": -. Private to "wrongly": ly.
"wrong" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "wrongly" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "wrong" and "wrongly" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "wrong" vs "wrongly" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "wrong" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wrongly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #458,290 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wrong" and "wrongly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wrangle vs wrongly". Nearby pair
- 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 #458,290 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.