Everyday or Every Day | Difference & Examples

Published on 21 July 2022 by Eoghan Ryan. Revised on 23 May 2023.

Everyday and every day are related words that fulfill different grammatical roles.

Everyday (one word) is an adjective that means ‘commonplace’ or ‘ordinary’. It’s pronounced with the stress on the first syllable only: [ev-ry-day].

Every day (two words) is an adverbial phrase that means ‘daily’ or ‘each day’. It’s pronounced with the stress on the first and third syllables: [ev-ry-day].

Examples: ‘Everyday’ in a sentence	Examples: ‘Every day’ in a sentence
We wear everyday clothes in the office on Fridays.	He goes running at dawn every day.
Graduating from college is not an everyday occurrence.	We repeated the experiment every day for six weeks.

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Use of ‘everyday’ (adjective)
Use of ‘every day’ (adverbial phrase)
Worksheet: Every day or everyday
Other interesting language articles

Use of ‘everyday’ (adjective)

Everyday is a compound word that can be used to describe something as ‘regular’ or ‘commonplace’. It doesn’t literally mean that something happens every day. It’s an adjective, meaning it always modifies or describes a noun.

Examples: ‘Everyday’ is an adjective

It’s nothing fancy. It’s just an everyday meal.

In spite of social initiatives, crime is still a part of everyday life.

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Use of ‘every day’ (adverbial phrase)

Every day is an adverbial phrase – it always modifies or describes a verb. It can be used to refer to actions or events that occur each day, or to refer to multiple specific days (e.g., ‘every day that …’).

Examples: ‘Every day’ is an adverb

If you practise every day, your skills will improve.

I read at least one article every day during the college term.

Tip

In the phrase every day, ‘every’ is an adjective that describes the noun ‘day’.

If you’re unsure whether to use everyday or every day, try replacing the word ‘every’ with ‘each’.

If the sentence still makes sense, every day is the correct phrase to use.
If not, you might mean everyday (‘eachday’ is not a word).

Worksheet: Every day or everyday

If you want to test your understanding of the difference between ‘everyday’ and ‘every day’, try the worksheet below. Fill in either ‘everyday’ or ‘every day’ in each sentence.

The eye exam is an ________ procedure.
He takes his vitamins ________.
You learn something new ________.
Seeing beautiful paintings is an ________ activity for her because she works in a museum.
Faculty will meet ________ this week to discuss the new curriculum.

The eye exam is an everyday procedure.
- Here, ‘everyday’ (one word) is correct, as the meaning is ‘commonplace’ or ‘ordinary’, not literally every day.

He takes his vitamins every day.
- Here, ‘every day’ (two words) is correct, as the meaning is ‘daily’ or ‘each day’.

You learn something new every day.
- As an adverbial phrase, ‘every day’ modifies or describes a verb. In this instance, the verb is ‘learn’.

Seeing beautiful paintings is an everyday activity for her because she works in a museum.
- As an adjective, ‘everyday’ always modifies or describes a noun. In this instance, the noun is ‘activity’.

Faculty will meet every day this week to discuss the new curriculum.
- In this instance, ‘every day’ is used to refer to multiple specific days (‘every day this week’).

Eoghan Ryan

Eoghan has a lot of experience with theses and dissertations at bachelor's, MA, and PhD level. He has taught university English courses, helping students to improve their research and writing.