Which to use
“reckless” is an adjective and “recklessly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,388
- “reckless” frequency rank
- #29,433
- “recklessly” frequency rank
- 38821
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reckless | recklessly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Careless or heedless; headstrong or rash. | In a rash or reckless manner, without regard for cost or consequence |
Letter map: reckless vs recklessly
Shared letters muted; letters that set reckless and recklessly apart highlighted. Shared run: 8.
Grammar separator: reckless vs recklessly
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: reckless is anadjective and recklesslyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “reckless” sits inside “recklessly”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38821, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reckless is recorded at frequency rank #9,388, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈɹɛkləs/. recklessly is at rank #29,433, 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 38821, this pair ranks #282,391 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of reckless vs recklessly
Shared letters: ceklrs. Private to "reckless": -. Private to "recklessly": y.
"reckless" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC · "recklessly" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- reckless ← erckless · rcekless · recckless · reckelss · reckkless · reckles · recklless · recklses
- recklessly ← ercklessly · rceklessly · reccklessly · reckelssly · reckklessly · reckleslsy · recklesly · recklesslly
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "reckless" and "recklessly" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "reckless" or "recklessly"?
Useful next steps
Pair "reckless" vs "recklessly" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "reckless" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recklessly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #282,391 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reckless" and "recklessly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recess vs reckless". 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 #282,391 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.