Which to use
“speedily” is an adverb and “speeding” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,580
- “speedily” frequency rank
- #11,610
- “speeding” frequency rank
- 51190
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | speedily | speeding |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | In a speedy or fast manner. | present participle and gerund of speed |
Where the eye mixes speedily and speeding
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. speedily (CCVVCVCV) and speeding (CCVVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: speedily vs speeding
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: speedily is /ˈspiːdɪli/ while speeding is /ˈspiːdɪŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51190, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
speedily is recorded at frequency rank #39,580, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈspiːdɪli/. speeding is at rank #11,610, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈspiːdɪŋ/.
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 51190, this pair ranks #167,605 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of speedily vs speeding
Shared letters: deips. Private to "speedily": ly. Private to "speeding": gn.
"speedily" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCV · "speeding" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "speedily" for "speeding" ever safe?
Which is more common, "speedily" or "speeding"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "speedily" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "speeding" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #167,605 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "speedily" and "speeding" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "speedily vs speedway". 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 #167,605 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.