Which to use
“wronged” is a verb and “wrongly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,980
- “wronged” frequency rank
- #15,943
- “wrongly” frequency rank
- 41923
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wronged | wrongly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of wrong | 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 wronged and wrongly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: wronged vs wrongly
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wronged is /ɹɒŋd/ while wrongly is /ˈɹɒŋ.li/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41923, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wronged is recorded at frequency rank #25,980, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɒŋd/. 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 41923, this pair ranks #253,907 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of wronged vs wrongly
Shared letters: gnorw. Private to "wronged": de. Private to "wrongly": ly.
"wronged" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "wrongly" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "wronged" and "wrongly" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "wronged" or "wrongly" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "wronged" 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 #253,907 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wronged" 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 #253,907 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.