actively
ac·tive·ly/ˈæktɪvli/adverb
actively is spelled A-C-T-I-V-E-L-Y, 3 syllables: ac·tive·ly. The wrong spelling people search most is activly: about 110 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Actively is an adverb meaning “In an active manner”.
How many letters and syllables are in actively?
| Letters | 8: A-C-T-I-V-E-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: ac·tive·ly |
| In writing | 17 times per million words; the 4,838th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, activly, about 110 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell actively?
Actively is spelled A-C-T-I-V-E-L-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for actively in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is actively?
Actively appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,838th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce actively?
- /ˈæktɪvli/
Actively has 3 syllables, split ac·tive·ly in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vininn126-actively.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of actively
- more actively comparative
- most actively superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does actively mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
In an active manner.
He was actively listening.
- 2
In the active form; not passive.
a word used actively
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Actively in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | activement |
| German | aktiv , active |
| Portuguese | ativamente |
| Spanish | activamente, enérgicamente |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does actively come from?
From late Middle English actyvely; equivalent to active + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).