這一對詞都能用作副詞，都有“很”、“非常”、“十分”的意思，故很易混淆。
用作副詞時，要注意下列幾點區別：
（一)修飾形容詞時，用very，不用much。例如：a very happy man; a very good book; a very cold day。
（二)修飾動詞意義較強的過去分詞時，用much，不用very。例如：His car was much damaged by the collision． Owing to the fog the ship was much delayed．
（三)在修飾已失去動詞意義成為一般形容詞一樣的過去分詞時, 用very, 不用much。例如：I am very tired．She has a very puzzled expression．
（四)在修飾用作形容詞的現在分詞前，一般用very，不用much。例如：This is a very iing book．That is a very amusing story．
（五)修飾原級形容詞時，用very；修飾比較級時，用much。例如：Deep Water Bay is very beautiful, but Repul Bay is much better．
（六)在修飾隻能用作表語的形容詞時，用much，不用very。例如：much alive, much alone, much ashamed……。
（七)very much是much的強調說法，因此，凡是可以用much的地方，都可以用very much代替。
（八)在修飾一般處於表語地位的過去分詞時，用very much最為恰當。例：I''m very much amazed（annoyed, delighted, embarrasd, excited, horrified, ied, moved, offended，plead，puzzled，satisfied，surprid，worried…）．
（九)much可以修飾動詞，very則不能。例：They have lived in Hong Kong for more than ten years, but they do not like the weather much.I very mujoyed the cert．
（十)much可以修飾介詞短語，very則不能。例如：He is much at his ea.
（十一)在like引導的短語前，much可以和very替換使用。例如：She is much（or very)like her father．
（十二)very不能修飾冠詞，much可以用來修飾冠詞。例如：She is very much a lady．It is much the same．