# shelving vs smelling

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### shelving
*adjective · frequency rank #34,282*
Sloping (as opposed to horizontally flat or vertically upright).

### smelling
*verb · IPA /ˈsmɛlɪŋ/ · frequency rank #13,426*
present participle and gerund of smell

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shelving-vs-smelling