Which to use
“smirking” is a noun and “stinking” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,923
- “smirking” frequency rank
- #27,658
- “stinking” frequency rank
- 71581
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | smirking | stinking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of one who smirks. | Having a pungent smell. |
Letter map: smirking vs stinking
Shared letters muted; letters that set smirking and stinking apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. smirking and stinking follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Grammar separator: smirking vs stinking
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: smirking is anoun and stinkinganadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71581, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
smirking is recorded at frequency rank #43,923, classified as anoun. stinking is at rank #27,658, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈstɪŋkɪŋ/.
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 71581, this pair ranks #46,159 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of smirking vs stinking
Shared letters: gikns. Private to "smirking": mr. Private to "stinking": t.
"smirking" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC · "stinking" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "smirking" for "stinking" ever safe?
Frequency check: "smirking" vs "stinking" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "smirking" and "stinking".
- Full dictionary entry for "smirking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stinking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #46,159 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "smirking" and "stinking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "smirking vs spiking". 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 #46,159 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.