Which to use
“smile” is a noun and “stale” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,316
- “smile” frequency rank
- #16,589
- “stale” frequency rank
- 18905
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | smile | stale |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A facial expression comprised by flexing the muscles of both ends of one's mouth, often showing the front teeth, without vocalisation, and in humans is a common involuntary or voluntary expression of happiness, pleasure, amusement, goodwill, or anxiety. | Clear, free of dregs and lees; old and strong. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set smile and stale apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
smile and stale form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18905, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
smile is recorded at frequency rank #2,316, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsmaɪl/. stale is at rank #16,589, tagged as anadj, pronounced /steɪl/.
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 18905, this pair ranks #441,816 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "smile" and "stale" be used interchangeably?
Remembering smile vs stale
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “smile”; for an adjective, it's “stale”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “smile” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable