Difference Between Finaly and Finally

Hardly a day passes without hearing the word ‘finally’ being mentioned somewhere. Whether you are at school or at work, chances are that you will hear someone mention the word ‘finally’ at one time or another. To start with, the word ‘finally’ is an adverb that is used to mean eventually or lastly. It is used to show what happened at the end of something. That said, this word is commonly confused with the word ‘finaly’.

From the look, these words look the same only that the word ‘finally’ has an extra letter ‘l’, which is missing in the word ‘finaly’. However, these words are different. In this article, we shall try to demystify them so that you can know them better.

What Does the Word ‘Finally’ Mean?

Like we mentioned above, the word ‘finally’ means lastly or eventually. It originates from the adjective ‘final’, which means, at last. To create an adverb, you just need to add the suffix ‘ly’ so that you can end up with the word ‘finally’. It is mostly used to illustrate what happened at the final moment or point. Besides lastly and eventually, the other synonym of this word is ultimate. To put it in perspective, the word finally can be used in the following ways:

1. To show what happened after a prolonged time

  • I am so glad to finally meet you!
  • It finally dawned on her that he was a conman
  • Four hours later, the van finally arrived

2. To illustrate what happened as the last act in a series

  • After many trials, the procedure finally worked.
  • After many years of soul-searching, I finally opted to pursue Medicine.
  • She listened to the entire lecture attentively and finally asked the lecturer a number of questions.

3. To conclude

  • Finally, I would like to thank all those who supported us to raise money for the hospital bill.

4. To show what happens at the end.

  • What finally matters is whether you are going to help her out or not.

What Does ‘Finaly’ Mean?

To start with, there is no word such as ‘finaly’. This means that this word might either be misspelled or something close to that. Ideally, the correct word here is ‘finally’ instead of ‘finaly’. Therefore, this word does not exist in the English dictionary.

Main Differences Between Finally And Finaly

Although these words nearly look the same, they are totally different. For instance, the word ‘finaly’ does not exist. If you find it somewhere, just know that it has been misspelled. Therefore, there is no definite meaning of the word ‘finaly’. However, its counterpart can be used to mean what happened at the end of a certain process or series. It is commonly used as an adverb and can appear at the beginning or middle of a sentence. It all depends on the message you want to pass across.

Final Thoughts

Like we have mentioned above, it is wrong to use the word ‘finaly’ in a sentence as it does not exist in the English dictionary. However, you are allowed to use the word ‘finally’ as it exists and is commonly used out there. If you want to illustrate what happened at the end of a particular activity, you can go ahead and use the word ‘finally’. It is a common adverb used to mean ultimately, eventually, sooner or later, and subsequently and so on. Note the differences mentioned above to avoid confusing these two terms in the near future.