Which to use
“exceeding” is a verb and “exceedingly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,767
- “exceeding” frequency rank
- #18,305
- “exceedingly” frequency rank
- 31072
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | exceeding | exceedingly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of exceed | To a great or unusual degree, extent, etc.; extremely |
Where the eye mixes exceeding and exceedingly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: exceeding vs exceedingly
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: exceeding is /ɪkˈsiːdɪŋ/ while exceedingly is /ɪkˈsidɪŋli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “exceeding” sits inside “exceedingly”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31072, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
exceeding is recorded at frequency rank #12,767, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪkˈsiːdɪŋ/. exceedingly is at rank #18,305, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ɪkˈsidɪŋli/.
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 31072, this pair ranks #349,233 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of exceeding vs exceedingly
Shared letters: cdeginx. Private to "exceeding": -. Private to "exceedingly": ly.
"exceeding" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCVCC · "exceedingly" · 11 letters · shape VCCVVCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- exceeding ← ecxeeding · excceeding · excedeing · exceding · exceedding · exceedign · exceedingg · exceedinng
- exceedingly ← ecxeedingly · excceedingly · excedeingly · excedingly · exceeddingly · exceedignly · exceedinggly · exceedinglly
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "exceeding" and "exceedingly" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "exceeding" or "exceedingly"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "exceeding" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exceedingly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #349,233 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "exceeding" and "exceedingly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exceeding vs excepting". 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 #349,233 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.