weeklyvsweeksConfusable pair

Quick tell: weekly is a adverb, weeks is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“weekly” is an adverb and “weeks” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,653
“weekly” frequency rank
#669
“weeks” frequency rank
3322
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature weekly weeks
Definition Once every week. plural of week

Where the eye mixes weekly and weeks

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
weekly
5 ch
weeks

Visual trap between weekly and weeks

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: weekly is /ˈwiːk.li/ while weeks is /wiːks/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3322, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

weekly is recorded at frequency rank #2,653, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈwiːk.li/. weeks is at rank #669, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wiːks/.

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 3322, this pair ranks #522,453 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of weekly vs weeks

Shared letters: ekw. Private to "weekly": ly. Private to "weeks": s.

"weekly" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "weeks" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weeklyewekly · weekkly · weeklly · weeklyy · weekyl · weelky · wekely · wekly
  • weekseweks · weekks · weekss · weesk · wekes · weks · wweeks

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "weekly" for "weeks" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "weekly" is an adverb and "weeks" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "weekly" or "weeks"?
"weeks" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #669 in our English list, against #2,653 for "weekly". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "weekly" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "weeks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #522,453 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "weekly" and "weeks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weeks vs werk". 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 #522,453 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list