Which to use
“spatial” is an adjective and “spatially” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,280
- “spatial” frequency rank
- #39,577
- “spatially” frequency rank
- 49857
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spatial | spatially |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pertaining to (the dimension of) space. | With reference to space or arrangement in space. |
Letter map: spatial vs spatially
Shared letters muted; letters that set spatial and spatially apart highlighted. Shared run: 7.
Grammar separator: spatial vs spatially
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: spatial is anadjective and spatiallyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “spatial” sits inside “spatially”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49857, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spatial is recorded at frequency rank #10,280, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈspeɪ.ʃəl/. spatially is at rank #39,577, 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 49857, this pair ranks #179,636 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of spatial vs spatially
Shared letters: ailpst. Private to "spatial": -. Private to "spatially": y.
"spatial" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC · "spatially" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "spatial" and "spatially" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "spatial" or "spatially"?
Useful next steps
Pair "spatial" vs "spatially" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "spatial" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spatially" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #179,636 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spatial" and "spatially" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spatially vs specially". 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 #179,636 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.