Which to use
“smile” is a noun and “still” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,316
- “smile” frequency rank
- #127
- “still” frequency rank
- 2443
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | smile | still |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Not moving; calm. |
Where the eye mixes smile and still
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: smile is /ˈsmaɪl/ while still is /stɪl/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2443, 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/. still is at rank #127, tagged as anadj, pronounced /stɪl/.
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 2443, this pair ranks #524,964 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of smile vs still
Shared letters: ils. Private to "smile": em. Private to "still": t.
"smile" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "still" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC