Which to use
“unsurprising” is an adjective and “unsurprisingly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,473
- “unsurprising” frequency rank
- #28,779
- “unsurprisingly” frequency rank
- 71252
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | unsurprising | unsurprisingly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Not surprising; expected. | Not surprisingly, as could be expected. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set unsurprising and unsurprisingly apart are highlighted. They share 12 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: unsurprising is anadjective and unsurprisinglyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “unsurprising” sits inside “unsurprisingly”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71252, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
unsurprising is recorded at frequency rank #42,473, classified as anadj. unsurprisingly is at rank #28,779, 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 71252, this pair ranks #47,452 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of unsurprising vs unsurprisingly
Shared letters: ginprsu. Private to "unsurprising": -. Private to "unsurprisingly": ly.
"unsurprising" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCCCVCVCC · "unsurprisingly" · 14 letters · shape VCCVCCCVCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- unsurprising ← nusurprising · unnsurprising · unsruprising · unssurprising · unsuprrising · unsurpirsing · unsurpprising · unsurpriisng
- unsurprisingly ← nusurprisingly · unnsurprisingly · unsruprisingly · unssurprisingly · unsuprrisingly · unsurpirsingly · unsurpprisingly · unsurpriisngly
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "unsurprising" and "unsurprisingly" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "unsurprising" or "unsurprisingly"?
Remembering unsurprising vs unsurprisingly
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “unsurprising”; for an adverb, it's “unsurprisingly”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “unsurprising” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable