Which to use
“seconded” is a verb and “secondly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,387
- “seconded” frequency rank
- #8,981
- “secondly” frequency rank
- 32368
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | seconded | secondly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of second | In the second place. |
Letter map: seconded vs secondly
Shared letters muted; letters that set seconded and secondly apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Role in the sentence - seconded and secondly
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: seconded is averb and secondlyanadverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32368, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
seconded is recorded at frequency rank #23,387, classified as averb. secondly is at rank #8,981, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈsɛk.(ə)ndli/.
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 32368, this pair ranks #338,370 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of seconded vs secondly
Shared letters: cdenos. Private to "seconded": -. Private to "secondly": ly.
"seconded" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "secondly" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "seconded" for "secondly" ever safe?
Frequency check: "seconded" vs "secondly" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pair "seconded" vs "secondly" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "seconded" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "secondly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #338,370 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "seconded" and "secondly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "secluded vs seconded". 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 #338,370 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.