Truely or Truly: Which Is Correct?

If you want your writing to be clear and professional, you need to make sure you don’t make any spelling mistakes.

One tricky word to spell is truly. Many people write truely with an additional E, which is an understandable mistake, since the root word true is spelled with an E.

However, the correct spelling is truly without the E.

This article will help you remember the correct spelling of the word truly, plus provide some example sentences.

How Do You Spell Truly (or Truely?)

Truly is the only accepted spelling of this word according to all modern English dictionaries. Truely is an incorrect spelling.

Some adjectives keep their final E when you add -ly, such as nice (nicely) and lone (lonely).

Others lose the E when you add -ly, such as probable (probably) and gentle (gently). The word true (truly) falls in this second category.

For example, you would write “I truly had a wonderful time last night,” not “I truely had a wonderful time last night.”

One helpful tip for spelling truly correctly is to remember that the word error starts with an E.

Whenever you’re wondering if truly needs an extra E, remember that adding that letter would be an error.

You can also use a grammar checker like ProWritingAid, which will let you know when you’ve misspelled a word.

Examples of Truly vs Truely Used in Sentences

Let’s look at some examples of truly used in popular books.

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”—J.K.Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

“Some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word.”—George R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

“In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them.... I destroy them.”—Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game

“You do not know how fast you have been running, how hard you have been working, how truly exhausted you are, until somewhat stands behind you and says, ‘It’s okay, you can fall down now. I’ll catch you.’”—Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

“From a biological perspective, nothing is unnatural. Whatever is possible is by definition also natural. A truly unnatural behaviour, one that goes against the laws of nature, simply cannot exist, so it would need no prohibition.”—Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

“The worst part of being truly alone is you think about all the times you wished that everyone would just leave you be. Then they do, and you are left being, and you turn out to be terrible company.”—John Green, Turtles All the Way Down

“Faith is walking face-first and full-speed into the dark. If we truly knew all the answers in advance as to the meaning of life and the nature of God and the destiny of our souls, our belief would not be a leap of faith and it would not be a courageous act of humanity; it would just be... a prudent insurance policy.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

“Often a man wishes to be alone and a girl wishes to be alone too and if they love each other they are jealous of that in each other, but I can truly say we never felt that. We could feel alone when we were together, alone against the others. But we were never lonely and never afraid when we were together.”—Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

Conclusion on Truely or Truly

Remember that truely is a misspelling, and truly is the correct word. Learning this difference will make your writing truly shine!

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