Formally vs Formerly

I’m back with another midweek post about words that can easily be mixed up.

These two words are often confused as they sound the same but they have very different meanings.

Formally is the adverb for formal, which means official or ‘in accordance with convention or etiquette’. (Google dictionary)

The staff were asked to dress formally for their Christmas meal.

I formally accepted the job offer on Tuesday.

Formerly is the adverb for former and it means ‘in the past or in earlier times’. (Google dictionary)

The capital of China was formerly known as Peking.

The artist formerly known as Prince had many famous hits.

It’s worth noting that a spellcheck would not pick this kind of error up so it needs to be picked up by the human eye when read in context.