Which to use
“deadly” is an adjective and “deeply” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,489
- “deadly” frequency rank
- #3,358
- “deeply” frequency rank
- 8847
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deadly | deeply |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Subject to death; mortal. | To a deep extent or degree; very greatly. |
Where the eye mixes deadly and deeply
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between deadly and deeply
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deadly is /ˈdɛdli/ while deeply is /ˈdi(ː)pli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8847, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deadly is recorded at frequency rank #5,489, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈdɛdli/. deeply is at rank #3,358, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈdi(ː)pli/.
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 8847, this pair ranks #500,424 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of deadly vs deeply
Shared letters: dely. Private to "deadly": a. Private to "deeply": p.
"deadly" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "deeply" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "deadly" and "deeply" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "deadly" vs "deeply" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "deadly" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "deeply" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #500,424 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deadly" and "deeply" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dally vs deadly". 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 #500,424 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.