Which to use
“eastward” is a noun and “eastwards” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,195
- “eastward” frequency rank
- #42,619
- “eastwards” frequency rank
- 63814
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | eastward | eastwards |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The direction or area lying to the east. | eastward. |
Letter map: eastward vs eastwards
Shared letters muted; letters that set eastward and eastwards apart highlighted. Shared run: 8. eastward runs 8 letters (VVCCCVCC) against eastwards's 9 (VVCCCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - eastward and eastwards
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: eastward is anoun and eastwardsanadverb. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “eastward” sits inside “eastwards”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63814, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
eastward is recorded at frequency rank #21,195, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈist.wɚd/. eastwards is at rank #42,619, 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 63814, this pair ranks #80,942 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of eastward vs eastwards
Shared letters: aderstw. Private to "eastward": -. Private to "eastwards": -.
"eastward" · 8 letters · shape VVCCCVCC · "eastwards" · 9 letters · shape VVCCCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "eastward" and "eastwards" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "eastward" vs "eastwards" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "eastward" and "eastwards".
- Full dictionary entry for "eastward" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "eastwards" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #80,942 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "eastward" and "eastwards" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eastward vs Eastwood". 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 #80,942 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.