# smelled vs smelly

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### smelled
*verb · IPA /ˈsmɛld/ · frequency rank #15,061*
simple past and past participle of smell

### smelly
*adjective · IPA /ˈsmɛli/ · frequency rank #19,973*
Having a bad smell.

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