Which to use
“negatively” is an adverb and “negativity” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,429
- “negatively” frequency rank
- #15,230
- “negativity” frequency rank
- 26659
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | negatively | negativity |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | In a negative manner; so as to be damaging or not positive. | The characteristic of being pessimistic or contrarian. |
Letter map: negatively vs negativity
Shared letters muted; letters that set negatively and negativity apart highlighted. Shared run: 8.
Part-of-speech tell for negatively / negativity
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: negatively is anadverb and negativityanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
negatively is recorded at frequency rank #11,429, classified as anadv. negativity is at rank #15,230, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˌnɛɡ.əˈtɪ.vɪ.ti/.
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 26659, this pair ranks #385,058 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of negatively vs negativity
Shared letters: aegintvy. Private to "negatively": l. Private to "negativity": -.
"negatively" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCV · "negativity" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- negatively ← engatively · neagtively · negaitvely · negatievly · negativelly · negativelyy · negativeyl · negativley
- negativity ← engativity · neagtivity · negaitvity · negatiivty · negativitty · negativityy · negativiyt · negativtiy
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "negatively" for "negativity" ever safe?
Which is more common, "negatively" or "negativity"?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "negatively" and "negativity".
- Full dictionary entry for "negatively" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "negativity" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #385,058 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "negatively" and "negativity" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "natively vs negatively". 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 #385,058 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.