Which to use
“accidental” is an adjective and “accidentally” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,277
- “accidental” frequency rank
- #4,911
- “accidentally” frequency rank
- 14188
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | accidental | accidentally |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pertaining to accident and not essence; thus, inessential; incidental; secondary. | In an accidental manner; by chance, unexpectedly. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set accidental and accidentally apart are highlighted. They share 10 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: accidental is /ˌæk.sɪˈdɛn.tl̩/ while accidentally is /ˌæk.sɪˈdɛnt(ə)li/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “accidental” sits inside “accidentally”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14188, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
accidental is recorded at frequency rank #9,277, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˌæk.sɪˈdɛn.tl̩/. accidentally is at rank #4,911, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˌæk.sɪˈdɛnt(ə)li/.
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 14188, this pair ranks #471,547 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of accidental vs accidentally
Shared letters: acdeilnt. Private to "accidental": -. Private to "accidentally": y.
"accidental" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC · "accidentally" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- accidental ← accdiental · acciddental · accidenatl · accidenntal · accidentall · accidentla · accidenttal · accidetnal
- accidentally ← accdientally · acciddentally · accidenatlly · accidenntally · accidentallyy · accidentaly · accidentalyl · accidentlaly
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "accidental" and "accidentally" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "accidental" or "accidentally"?
Remembering accidental vs accidentally
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “accidental”; for an adverb, it's “accidentally”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “accidental” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable