Which to use
“accidental” is an adjective and “accidently” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,277
- “accidental” frequency rank
- #34,363
- “accidently” frequency rank
- 43640
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | accidental | accidently |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pertaining to accident and not essence; thus, inessential; incidental; secondary. | Accidentally; by chance, unintentionally. |
Letter map: accidental vs accidently
Shared letters muted; letters that set accidental and accidently apart highlighted. Shared run: 9. accidental (VCCVCVCCVC) and accidently (VCCVCVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Role in the sentence - accidental and accidently
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: accidental is anadjective and accidentlyanadverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43640, 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/. 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 43640, this pair ranks #238,041 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of accidental vs accidently
Shared letters: acdeilnt. Private to "accidental": -. Private to "accidently": y.
"accidental" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC · "accidently" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- accidental ← accdiental · acciddental · accidenatl · accidenntal · accidentall · accidentla · accidenttal · accidetnal
- accidently ← accdiently · acciddently · accidenlty · accidenntly · accidentlly · accidentlyy · accidenttly · accidentyl
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "accidental" and "accidently" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "accidental" or "accidently"?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "accidental" and "accidently".
- Full dictionary entry for "accidental" 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 #238,041 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "accidental" and "accidently" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "accidentally 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 #238,041 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.