# smiling vs smirking

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### smiling
*adjective · IPA /ˈsmaɪlɪŋ/ · frequency rank #5,628*
That smiles or has a smile.

### smirking
*noun · frequency rank #43,923*
The act of one who smirks.

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