Which to use
“savage” is an adjective and “savagely” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,616
- “savage” frequency rank
- #39,542
- “savagely” frequency rank
- 46158
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | savage | savagely |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Wild; not cultivated or tamed. | In a wild, uncontrolled, or savage manner. |
Letter map: savage vs savagely
Shared letters muted; letters that set savage and savagely apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. savage runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against savagely's 8 (CVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for savage / savagely
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: savage is anadjective and savagelyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “savage” sits inside “savagely”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46158, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
savage is recorded at frequency rank #6,616, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈsævɪd͡ʒ/. savagely is at rank #39,542, 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 46158, this pair ranks #214,394 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of savage vs savagely
Shared letters: aegsv. Private to "savage": -. Private to "savagely": ly.
"savage" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "savagely" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "savage" and "savagely" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "savage" or "savagely"?
Useful next steps
Pair "savage" vs "savagely" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "savage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "savagely" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #214,394 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "savage" and "savagely" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "savagely vs savagery". 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 #214,394 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.