Which to use
“accident” is a noun and “accidently” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,979
- “accident” frequency rank
- #34,363
- “accidently” frequency rank
- 36342
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | accident | accidently |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An unexpected event with negative consequences occurring without the intention of the one suffering the consequences, and (in the strict sense) not directly caused by humans. | Accidentally; by chance, unintentionally. |
Letter map: accident vs accidently
Shared letters muted; letters that set accident and accidently apart highlighted. Shared run: 8. accident runs 8 letters (VCCVCVCC) against accidently's 10 (VCCVCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for accident / accidently
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: accident is anoun and accidentlyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “accident” sits inside “accidently”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36342, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
accident is recorded at frequency rank #1,979, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈæk.sɪ.dənt/. accidently is at rank #34,363, tagged as anadv.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 36342, this pair ranks #303,973 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of accident vs accidently
Shared letters: acdeint. Private to "accident": -. Private to "accidently": ly.
"accident" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC · "accidently" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- accident ← accdient · acciddent · accidennt · accidentt · accidetn · accidnet · acciednt · acicdent
- accidently ← accdiently · acciddently · accidenlty · accidenntly · accidentlly · accidentlyy · accidenttly · accidentyl
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "accident" for "accidently" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "accident" or "accidently" show up more?
What to do next
Pair "accident" vs "accidently" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "accident" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "accidently" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #303,973 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "accident" and "accidently" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "accidental vs accidently". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #303,973 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.