lazilyvslazyConfusable pair

Quick tell: lazily is a adverb, lazy is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lazily” is an adverb and “lazy” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,231
“lazily” frequency rank
#4,773
“lazy” frequency rank
47004
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lazily lazy
Definition In a lazy manner. Unwilling to do work or make an effort; disinclined to exertion.

Letter map: lazily vs lazy

Shared letters muted; letters that set lazily and lazy apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
lazily
4 ch
lazy

Role in the sentence - lazily and lazy

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lazily is anadverb and lazyanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47004, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lazily is recorded at frequency rank #42,231, classified as anadv. lazy is at rank #4,773, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈleɪzi/.

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 47004, this pair ranks #206,477 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lazily vs lazy

Shared letters: alyz. Private to "lazily": i. Private to "lazy": -.

"lazily" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "lazy" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lazilyalzily · laizly · lazilly · lazilyy · laziyl · lazliy · lazzily · llazily
  • lazyalzy · layz · lazyy · lazzy · llazy · lzay

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lazily" and "lazy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lazily" is an adverb and "lazy" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lazily" or "lazy"?
"lazy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,773 in our English list, against #42,231 for "lazily". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "lazily" vs "lazy" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lazily" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lazy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #206,477 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lazily" and "lazy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lally vs lazily". 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 #206,477 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list