Is it every day or everyday?

Both of these expressions exist in British English. They do, however, have different meanings and are commonly mixed up, even by large British supermarket chains on their in-store signage!

Every day

This is used to mean that something is happening daily, as in the following examples:

  • We do this every day.
  • Every day, we like to contact Future Perfect.
  • Available all day every day.

Everyday

This is an adjective (or describing word) meaning ‘ordinary/regular’, as in the following examples:

  • This is an everyday occurrence.
  • It’s just an everyday event.
  • It’s an everyday object.

Handy tip:

So, how can you tell easily which one to use?

By replacing the ‘day’ section with an actual day of the week, you will find out whether it is right.

Let’s take this phrase, to try to decide which to use:

  • This is available everyday/every day.

So, now, replace the ‘day’ section with an actual day of the week:

  • This is available everyday. [all one word] This becomes: This is available everyMonday. [all one word] WRONG
  • This is available every day. [two words] This becomes: This is available every Monday. [two words] RIGHT

Because you would not write ‘everyMonday’ as one word in this, so you will not write ‘everyday’ as one word either!

  • Correct version: This is available all day every day.

This method of replacing similar parts of grammar, to help you to see things another way, is really worth remembering.