Which to use
“persistent” is an adjective and “persistently” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,329
- “persistent” frequency rank
- #27,243
- “persistently” frequency rank
- 35572
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | persistent | persistently |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Obstinately refusing to give up or let go. | In a persistent manner. |
Letter map: persistent vs persistently
Shared letters muted; letters that set persistent and persistently apart highlighted. Shared run: 10.
Part-of-speech tell for persistent / persistently
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: persistent is anadjective and persistentlyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “persistent” sits inside “persistently”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35572, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
persistent is recorded at frequency rank #8,329, classified as anadj, pronounced /pɚˈsɪstənt/. persistently is at rank #27,243, 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 35572, this pair ranks #310,811 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of persistent vs persistently
Shared letters: einprst. Private to "persistent": -. Private to "persistently": ly.
"persistent" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC · "persistently" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- persistent ← eprsistent · perisstent · perrsistent · persisetnt · persisstent · persistennt · persistentt · persistetn
- persistently ← eprsistently · perisstently · perrsistently · persisetntly · persisstently · persistenlty · persistenntly · persistentlly
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "persistent" and "persistently" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "persistent" or "persistently"?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "persistent" and "persistently".
- Full dictionary entry for "persistent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "persistently" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #310,811 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "persistent" and "persistently" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "persistent vs persisting". 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 #310,811 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.