‘Well’ is the adverb form of ‘good’, but actually both good and well can be used as adjectives and adverbs. Because of this, it can be tricky to choose the correct word – especially if you are learning English as a second language.
Here we will explain the difference between good vs well, and look at commonly confused phrases like:
- Doing well or doing good?
- Going good or going well?
- Feeling well or feeling good?
- Working well or working good?
- Not good or not well?
Hint: You should never say “My English is not well” – keep reading to find out why.
What is the difference between good and well?
Good as an adjective
‘Good’ is a very common adjective; probably one of the first you will learn when you begin learning English. It generally describes something or someone that is positive, praiseworthy, satisfactory, skilled, or desirable; the opposite of bad or poor.
You can check the 30+ definitions of ‘good’ here, if you want to know about the less common ones.
Here are some example sentences using ‘good’ as an adjective:
- That looks like a good place for a vacation.
- He is good at mixing cocktails.
- My Japanese is not good.
- You did a good job washing the car.
- My mother is a good singer.
- This soap smells so good!
- You look good in that dress.
Well as an adverb
‘Well’ is the adverb form of ‘good’. It is used to say that a verb (an action) is done in a good (satisfactory, positive, effective) way.
- I hope your vacation went well.
- He mixes cocktails well.
- I don’t speak Japanese well.
- You did well at washing the car.
- My mother sings well.
- That dress fits you well.
You’ll notice that we use adjectives rather than adverbs with sense verbs (look, feel, smell, taste, etc.), which means we say ‘smell good’ not ‘smell well’ – unless you are describing the manner in which someone senses something, e.g. “I can’t smell well because I have a cold.”
Well as an adjective
To confuse things further, ‘well’ is also used as an adjective that refers to a satisfactory state or a state of good health. For example:
- I am feeling well today.
- He hasn’t been well since last week.
- It’s so nice to see you! You look well.
- All is well with the world.
So, you’ll see that we can also use ‘well’ with sense verbs when it is an adjective describing someone’s state of health or well-being.
Discover some more idioms about health so you have different ways to describe this topic.
Good as an adverb
‘Good’ is only used as an adverb colloquially in certain regions of English-speaking countries. As a general rule, you should not use ‘good’ as an adverb – but that doesn’t mean you’ll never hear it used in this way.
When ‘good’ is used as an adverb, it has the same meaning as ‘well’.
‘Going good’ and ‘working good’ are examples of non-standard (and technically incorrect) usages of ‘good’ as an adverb.
Good as a noun (doing good)
There is one additional meaning of ‘good’ that we should cover here, which is the use of ‘good’ as a noun to mean something that is good, virtuous, or beneficial.
The reason this causes confusion is because it can be used in the phrase ‘do good’, which is also a colloquial use of ‘good’ as an adverb.
Here are some examples to show the difference:
- You did good in the test! (Meaning: You did well / You did a good job – non-standard use of ‘good’ as an adverb)
- He is always doing good in the community. (Meaning: doing good things/deeds – ‘good’ as a noun)
- If I can spend my retirement doing good, I’ll be happy. (Meaning: doing good or virtuous things – ‘good’ as a noun)
Sometimes, you’ll have to deduce the usage and meaning from the context. For example, “Doing good always makes me happy” could mean ‘doing well’ or ‘doing good deeds’.
When to use good and well in common phrases
Although well and good can be used in a wide range of contexts, there are a few common phrases and collocations that often cause confusion. Let’s now clarify the difference between some of these, and the correct usage of well vs good.
Doing well or doing good?
If you are referring to someone’s state or condition, you should say ‘doing well’. If you are referring to doing good things (like charitable acts of kindness), it’s ‘doing good’. People do say ‘doing good’ with the first meaning, but this is colloquial, non-standard use of ‘good’ as an adverb.
For example:
- I hope you’re doing well. (Correct)
- I hope you’re doing good. (Colloquial)
- She did well on her test. (Correct)
- She did good on her test. (Colloquial)
- He dedicated his life to doing good for others. (Correct)
There is also the phrase ‘do well by doing good‘ which means to achieve success as a result of a charitable or benevolent disposition.
Going good or going well?
‘Going well’ is correct because we need an adverb to modify the verb ‘go’. Although people do say ‘going good’, this is colloquial and technically incorrect language. The same applies when deciding between ‘went well’ or ‘went good’, since ‘went’ is the past tense of ‘go’.
For example:
- Did your date go well?
- Everything is going well with our plan.
- They told me their day went well.
- I hope all goes well with your presentation.
Sleep good or sleep well?
This phrase requires a verb + adverb, so it is correct to say ‘sleep well’ rather than ‘sleep good’. You may hear well or good used, but the latter is non-standard, colloquial usage. You should say “Did you sleep well?”, “I slept well”, etc.
Feeling well or good?
‘Feeling well’ and ‘feeling good’ are both correct, but ‘feeling well’ refers to a physical state of health whereas ‘feeling good’ more often refers to a general emotional state.
You would also say that something ‘feels good’ if you mean that it feels right or correct.
- Are you feeling well today?
- I may look a mess but I’m feeling good.
- He said he feels good about his decision.
The lines become more blurred when it comes to the negative forms. “I don’t feel good” and “I don’t feel well” are both ways of saying that you feel ill or unwell. However, only “I don’t feel good” can refer to a poor emotional state.
I am well or I am good?
There are three possible meanings here:
- I am well. – I am healthy and feeling physically fine.
- I am good. – I am in a good state.
- I am good at… (cooking, painting, playing soccer…) – I do this thing well; I am skilled at it.
All is good or all is well
You will hear both well and good used in this phrase to mean ‘everything is okay’. Technically, only ‘all is well’ is grammatically correct. But ‘all is good’ is quite commonly used to describe a sense or feeling that everything is fine.
Not well or not good?
‘Not well’ means ‘unwell’ or ‘in poor health’. ‘Not good’ means ‘bad’ or ‘poor’. For example:
- My grandfather is not well at the moment.
- My grandfather’s health is not good.
- I am not good at speaking French.
- My French is not good.
One other situation where we could say ‘not well’ is in the negative form of the phrase above: “All is not well”. This means that something is wrong with a situation.
Note: This explanation is for the specific phrases not well and not good. You can form many other sentences with not + verb + well/good, such as “He does not drive well.” and “The weather is not looking good.”
Works well or works good?
Here, only ‘works well’ is correct because we need an adverb (well) to modify the verb (work). For example:
- This drill works well even though it’s 20 years old.
- I hope that plan works well for you.
- She works well as a team leader.
All well and good
This good idiom means that something is adequate or acceptable, but not completely satisfactory. It is usually used to introduce another concept that may be even better, or that hasn’t been considered yet.
- It’s all well and good you saving money for a car, but have you thought about the cost of insurance?
- You’ll have the presentation finished by 2pm? That’s all well and good, but it needs to be submitted to the client by 2:30 so that doesn’t leave us much time to check it.
Good vs well: Conclusion
What a lot of confusing examples of when to use good vs well! If you still have questions about a particular sentence, feel free to leave a comment below for us to check.
Keep browsing our articles for help with other words you have trouble with.
