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"Late" means behind schedule or at an advanced hour; "lately" means recently or in recent times.
Side-by-side comparison
"Late" describes arriving after the expected time: behind schedule. "The train is late" = the train is delayed. Also at an advanced hour: "late at night".
She arrived late to the meeting and missed the introduction.
The train was running late due to signal problems.
We stayed up late talking about everything.
"Lately" means in the recent period of time, in the past days or weeks. "I've been tired lately" = I have been tired recently. It is mainly used with the present perfect.
I have been very busy lately. Sorry for not calling.
Have you seen any good movies lately?
She has not been feeling well lately.
Common mistake
- •Confusing "lately" (recently) with "late" (behind schedule).
- •"I have been arriving lately" does not mean arriving behind schedule: it means you have been arriving in recent times.
- •For being behind schedule: "I have been arriving late."
Trick to remember it
- •Same trap as hard/hardly: adding -ly completely changes the meaning.
- •"Late" = behind schedule.
- •"Lately" = recently (always pairs with perfect or continuous tenses).
Quick rule
- •"Late" = behind schedule or at an advanced hour.
- •"Lately" = recently, in recent times.
Did you know?
"Of late" is a formal, literary synonym of "lately" used in careful written English: "Of late, she has seemed troubled." Not used in daily conversation, but it appears in formal texts and literature. And "the late" with the definite article before a name means "the deceased": "the late President Kennedy", "the late Michael Jackson." This use of "late" to refer to someone who has died is one of the most elegant in the language: it implies their time has ended, or they arrived late to the present.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
I've been feeling really tired _____. I think I need a holiday.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
She arrived _____ to the party, but nobody minded.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
'At last' and 'finally' express relief after a wait; 'eventually' means something happens at the end of a long process.
"Hard" as an adverb means with effort or intensity; "hardly" means almost not, barely.
'Yet' (negative/question) and 'already' (affirmative) express whether something has happened; 'still' expresses continuation.
'A' is used before consonant sounds; 'an' is used before vowel sounds.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy