Which to use
“smiling” and “spiking” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,628
- “smiling” frequency rank
- #38,173
- “spiking” frequency rank
- 43801
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | smiling | spiking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | That smiles or has a smile. | spiky |
Letter map: smiling vs spiking
Shared letters muted; letters that set smiling and spiking apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. smiling and spiking follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Corpus notes: smiling and spiking
smiling and spiking are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43801, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
smiling is recorded at frequency rank #5,628, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈsmaɪlɪŋ/. spiking is at rank #38,173, tagged as anadj.
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 43801, this pair ranks #236,559 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of smiling vs spiking
Shared letters: gins. Private to "smiling": lm. Private to "spiking": kp.
"smiling" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC · "spiking" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "smiling" for "spiking" ever safe?
Which is more common, "smiling" or "spiking"?
What to do next
You've compared "smiling" and "spiking". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "smiling" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spiking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #236,559 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "smiling" and "spiking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spiking vs sulking". 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 #236,559 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.