Successfully or Succesfully: Which Is Correct?

One missing letter can make an otherwise polished sentence look careless. If you’ve ever hesitated between successfully or succesfully, you’re dealing with a very common English spelling mistake.

The correct spelling is successfully. The incorrect form succesfully is missing one s in the middle of the word. In this guide, we’ll look at the correct successfully spelling, explain where the word comes from, and show you how to use it naturally in a sentence.

Successfully or Succesfully: Which Is Correct?

The correct spelling is:

• Successfully
• Succesfully

The word successfully is the adverbial form of successful, which comes from the noun success.

Notice the spelling:

success → successful → successfully

The double s after the first part of the word is important. That’s why succesfully is incorrect.

Successfully Spelling

Break the word down like this:

S-U-C-C-E-S-S-F-U-L-L-Y

The most commonly missed letter is the second s in the sequence:

success + fully = successfully

A useful visual reminder is:

success + fully = successfully

If you remember the spelling of success, you’ll have a much easier time remembering successfully.

What Does Successfully Mean?

Successfully is an adverb that means in a successful way or with the desired result.

It describes an action that achieves its intended goal.

For example:

“She successfully completed the project.”

This means she completed the project and achieved the desired outcome.

Other examples include:

• The team successfully completed the mission.
• He successfully passed the examination.
• The company successfully launched its new product.
• She successfully solved the problem.
• They successfully negotiated a new agreement.

In each example, successfully tells us how the action was accomplished.

Why Is “Succesfully” Incorrect?

The spelling mistake happens because English speakers often pronounce the word quickly and don’t hear every consonant clearly.

The base word is success, spelled:

S-U-C-C-E-S-S

When we form successful, we keep the spelling of success and add -ful:

success + ful = successful

Then we add -ly to create the adverb:

successful + ly = successfully

At no stage is one of the s’s removed.

That’s why:

succesfully

is missing a letter, while:

successfully

preserves the correct spelling.

How to Remember the Successfully Spelling

If successfully keeps giving you trouble, try breaking it into smaller pieces.

Method 1: Start With “Success”

Remember:

SUCCESS

Then add:

FULLY

Together:

SUCCESS + FULLY = SUCCESSFULLY

This is probably the simplest way to remember it.

Method 2: Remember “Success” Has Two S’s at the End

The word success ends with:

SS

Since successfully is built from success, those two letters remain.

Think:

suc-cess-fully

rather than trying to memorize the entire word at once.

Method 3: Connect the Word Family

Learning related words can make spelling easier:

• success
• successful
• successfully
• unsuccessful
• unsuccessfully

Seeing the same spelling pattern repeatedly helps reinforce it.

Successfully vs. Successful

These two words are related but have different grammatical roles.

Successful

Successful is an adjective. It describes a person, thing, event, or action.

“It was a successful campaign.”

Successfully

Successfully is an adverb. It describes how an action happened.

“The campaign was successfully completed.”

A quick rule:

• Successful = describes something
• Successfully = describes how something is done

Compare the Examples

“She is a successful writer.”

Here, successful describes the writer.

“She successfully published her first novel.”

Here, successfully describes how she published it.

Successfully in a Sentence

The word successfully can appear in many different parts of a sentence, although it commonly comes before or after the main verb.

Before the Verb

“The engineers successfully repaired the system.”

After the Verb

“The engineers repaired the system successfully.”

Both sentences communicate essentially the same idea.

At the Beginning of a Sentence

It can also be used for emphasis:

“Successfully, the team completed every stage of the project.”

However, this construction is less natural than placing the adverb closer to the verb. In everyday writing, the first two patterns are usually better.

Common Examples of Successfully

Here are some natural examples you might encounter in everyday writing:

1. The students successfully completed the assignment.
2. The company successfully entered the international market.
3. She successfully completed the training program.
4. The doctor successfully performed the procedure.
5. The software was successfully installed.
6. He successfully defended his argument.
7. The team successfully reached its target.
8. They successfully resolved the issue.

These examples show why the word is useful in professional, academic, and everyday communication.

Is “Succesfully” Ever Correct?

No. If you intend to use the adverb meaning “in a successful way,” the standard English spelling is successfully.

You may see succesfully online because people frequently make spelling errors, but its appearance doesn’t make it an accepted spelling.

For formal writing, always use:

successfully

Successfully Pronunciation

The pronunciation can vary slightly depending on accent, but successfully is generally pronounced approximately as:

suk-SESS-fuh-lee

The word contains several syllables, which can make it feel more complicated than it actually is.

Don’t let the pronunciation influence the spelling too much. English pronunciation often doesn’t give you every letter clearly, so remembering the word family is more reliable.

Successfully vs. Succesfully: Quick Comparison

Spelling	Correct?	Explanation
successfully	Yes	Standard English spelling
succesfully	No	Missing an “s”
successful	Yes	Correct adjective
success	Yes	Correct noun
unsuccessfully	Yes	Correct negative adverb

If you’re writing an email, article, résumé, essay, or business document, successfully is the form you want.

Common Mistakes With Successfully

The most frequent error is removing one of the two s’s in the middle:

She succesfully completed the course.

The correct version is:

She successfully completed the course.

Another mistake is confusing successful and successfully:

“He is successfully businessman.”

The correct sentence is:

“He is a successful businessman.”

But:

“He successfully built the business.”

The difference comes down to grammar as well as spelling.

Successfully in Formal and Professional Writing

Successfully is common in professional writing because it clearly communicates that an objective was achieved.

You might see phrases such as:

• successfully completed
• successfully implemented
• successfully launched
• successfully delivered
• successfully resolved
• successfully managed
• successfully developed
• successfully achieved

For example:

“The organization successfully implemented the new system.”

This tells the reader that the implementation was completed and produced the intended result.

However, don’t overuse the word. In some situations, a more specific verb can make writing stronger.

Instead of:

“She successfully completed the project.”

You might write:

“She completed the project ahead of schedule.”

The second sentence gives the reader more useful information.

FAQs About Successfully or Succesfully

Is it successfully or succesfully?

Successfully is correct. Succesfully is a common misspelling because it leaves out one of the two s’s in the middle of the word.

How do you spell successfully?

The correct spelling is:

S-U-C-C-E-S-S-F-U-L-L-Y

A useful way to remember it is:

success + fully = successfully

What does successfully mean?

Successfully means doing something in a successful way or achieving the intended result.

For example:

“They successfully completed the project.”

Is successfully an adjective or adverb?

Successfully is an adverb. It describes how an action is performed.

The related adjective is successful.

Why do people spell successfully as “succesfully”?

It’s a common spelling error. The word contains several consonants in a row, and the repeated s sound can make it easy to leave one out when writing.

What is the difference between successful and successfully?

Successful is an adjective:

“She is a successful entrepreneur.”

Successfully is an adverb:

“She successfully launched her company.”

Is “succesfully” a word?

It may appear in informal writing, but succesfully is not the standard spelling. The correct form is successfully.

What is the easiest way to remember successfully?

Remember the base word success:

SUCCESS + FULLY = SUCCESSFULLY

The two s’s at the end of success stay in the longer word.

Final Verdict: Successfully or Succesfully?

When choosing between successfully or succesfully, always go with successfully.

The correct successfully spelling contains two s’s in the middle:

SUCCESSFULLY

The incorrect form succesfully drops one of them. Since the word comes from success → successful → successfully, keeping the original spelling pattern makes the word much easier to remember.

So, the next time you’re unsure, think “success + fully” and you’ll have the answer: successfully.