〜つつも

Expresses concession: 'although / even while (doing or thinking) X', the subject still does Y. X is often awareness or a feeling, and Y goes against it.

Found mainly in writing and fairly formal speech. It commonly follows verbs of knowing or thinking such as 知る, 思う or わかる. It describes acting against one's own awareness or judgment, often with a sense of regret, and pairs naturally with つい〜てしまう. Compared with ながらも it sounds more literary, and it is less conversational than のに.

• つつN2In its concessive use, 「つつ」is interchangeable with 「つつも」, though without 「も」the contrast is slightly weaker; 「つつ」can also express the same subject performing two actions at once, a use 「つつも」does not allow. Both attach to the masu-stem of verbs and both are written-style.
• ながら / いながら / ながらもN3「ながら」can also indicate the same subject doing two things at the same time. In concessive use it attaches not only to verbs but also to adjectives, nouns, or 「ていながら」 (e.g., 「狭いながらも」), with a neutral tone; when attached to a verb concessively, it is largely interchangeable with 「つつも」.
• もののN2Besides verbs, 「ものの」can also attach to adjectives and nouns followed by である. Its first clause is usually an already-realized fact and its second clause a result that falls short of expectations, often with a sense of regret, whereas 「つつも」attaches only to verbs and centers on the conflict between one's inner awareness and actual behavior.
• のにN4「のに」stresses that the outcome is the opposite of what was expected and often carries displeasure or regret; it attaches to verbs, adjectives, and nouns, can also end a sentence, and is neutral in register. 「つつも」, by contrast, attaches only to the masu-stem of verbs, leans literary, and mostly expresses the introspective feeling of knowing full well yet doing it anyway.
• にもかかわらずN2「にもかかわらず」attaches to nouns, adjectives, and verbs, and can also stand at the head of a sentence as a conjunction, objectively pointing out that the result runs counter to expectations. Expressions like 「知りつつも」can often be reworded as 「知っているにもかかわらず」.

つつ on its own can express two simultaneous actions ('while doing'), whereas つつも is only concessive; ながらも is similar in meaning but also attaches to nouns and adjectives and sounds less literary. ものの attaches to plain forms and stresses that something falls short, のに adds the speaker's dissatisfaction or surprise in everyday speech, and にもかかわらず is a formal connector that also follows nouns and plain forms to state an objective contrast.