Which to use
“smelling” is a verb and “spilling” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,426
- “smelling” frequency rank
- #17,964
- “spilling” frequency rank
- 31390
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | smelling | spilling |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of smell | The act of dropping or spreading out of a fluid or particles. |
Letter map: smelling vs spilling
Shared letters muted; letters that set smelling and spilling apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Role in the sentence - smelling and spilling
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: smelling is averb and spillinganoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31390, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
smelling is recorded at frequency rank #13,426, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈsmɛlɪŋ/. spilling is at rank #17,964, tagged as anoun.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 31390, this pair ranks #346,541 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of smelling vs spilling
Shared letters: gilns. Private to "smelling": em. Private to "spilling": p.
"smelling" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC · "spilling" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "smelling" and "spilling" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "smelling" or "spilling" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pair "smelling" vs "spilling" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "smelling" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spilling" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #346,541 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "smelling" and "spilling" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spiking vs spilling". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #346,541 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.