# shilling vs smelling

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### shilling
*noun · IPA /ˈʃɪlɪŋ/ · frequency rank #23,393*
A coin formerly used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, Australia, New Zealand and many other Commonwealth countries worth twelve old pence, or one twentieth of a pound sterling.

### 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/shilling-vs-smelling