# smelling vs spilling

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

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

### spilling
*noun · frequency rank #17,964*
The act of dropping or spreading out of a fluid or particles.

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