Which to use
“steep” is an adjective and “steeply” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,292
- “steep” frequency rank
- #31,777
- “steeply” frequency rank
- 39069
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | steep | steeply |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Of a near-vertical gradient; of a slope, surface, curve, etc. that proceeds upward at an angle near vertical. | In a steep manner. |
Letter map: steep vs steeply
Shared letters muted; letters that set steep and steeply apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. steep runs 5 letters (CCVVC) against steeply's 7 (CCVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: steep vs steeply
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: steep is anadjective and steeplyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “steep” sits inside “steeply”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39069, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
steep is recorded at frequency rank #7,292, classified as anadj, pronounced /stiːp/. steeply is at rank #31,777, 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 39069, this pair ranks #280,117 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of steep vs steeply
Shared letters: epst. Private to "steep": -. Private to "steeply": ly.
"steep" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "steeply" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "steep" for "steeply" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "steep" or "steeply" show up more?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "steep" and "steeply".
- Full dictionary entry for "steep" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "steeply" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #280,117 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "steep" and "steeply" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "steeply vs sternly". 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 #280,117 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.