Which to use
“mistaken” is a verb and “mistakenly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,363
- “mistaken” frequency rank
- #16,077
- “mistakenly” frequency rank
- 23440
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mistaken | mistakenly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of mistake | Wrongly; erroneously. |
Where the eye mixes mistaken and mistakenly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. mistaken runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against mistakenly's 10 (CVCCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses mistaken with mistakenly
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mistaken is /mɪˈsteɪkn̩/ while mistakenly is /mɪˈsteɪ.kən.li/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “mistaken” sits inside “mistakenly”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23440, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mistaken is recorded at frequency rank #7,363, classified as averb, pronounced /mɪˈsteɪkn̩/. mistakenly is at rank #16,077, tagged as anadv, pronounced /mɪˈsteɪ.kən.li/.
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 23440, this pair ranks #409,248 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mistaken vs mistakenly
Shared letters: aeikmnst. Private to "mistaken": -. Private to "mistakenly": ly.
"mistaken" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "mistakenly" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- mistaken ← imstaken · misatken · misstaken · mistaekn · mistakenn · mistakken · mistakne · mistkaen
- mistakenly ← imstakenly · misatkenly · misstakenly · mistaeknly · mistakelny · mistakenlly · mistakenlyy · mistakennly
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mistaken" and "mistakenly" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "mistaken" vs "mistakenly" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mistaken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mistakenly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #409,248 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mistaken" and "mistakenly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mistaken vs mistaking". 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 #409,248 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.