Which to use
“splendid” is an adjective and “splendidly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,451
- “splendid” frequency rank
- #42,914
- “splendidly” frequency rank
- 53365
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | splendid | splendidly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Possessing or displaying splendor; shining; very bright. | In a splendid manner. |
Letter map: splendid vs splendidly
Shared letters muted; letters that set splendid and splendidly apart highlighted. Shared run: 8. splendid runs 8 letters (CCCVCCVC) against splendidly's 10 (CCCVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for splendid / splendidly
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: splendid is anadjective and splendidlyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “splendid” sits inside “splendidly”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53365, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
splendid is recorded at frequency rank #10,451, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈsplɛndɪd/. splendidly is at rank #42,914, 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 53365, this pair ranks #149,601 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of splendid vs splendidly
Shared letters: deilnps. Private to "splendid": -. Private to "splendidly": y.
"splendid" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC · "splendidly" · 10 letters · shape CCCVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- splendid ← pslendid · slpendid · spelndid · splednid · splenddi · splenddid · splendidd · splenidd
- splendidly ← pslendidly · slpendidly · spelndidly · splednidly · splenddidly · splenddily · splendiddly · splendidlly
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "splendid" for "splendidly" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "splendid" or "splendidly" show up more?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "splendid" and "splendidly".
- Full dictionary entry for "splendid" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "splendidly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #149,601 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "splendid" and "splendidly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "solenoid vs splendid". 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 #149,601 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.