Which to use
“smoke” is a noun and “spoken” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,181
- “smoke” frequency rank
- #3,336
- “spoken” frequency rank
- 5517
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | smoke | spoken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The visible vapor/vapour, gases, and fine particles given off by burning or smoldering material. | Relating to speech. |
Where the eye mixes smoke and spoken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. smoke runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against spoken's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses smoke with spoken
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: smoke is /sməʊk/ while spoken is /ˈspəʊ.k(ə)n/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5517, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
smoke is recorded at frequency rank #2,181, classified as anoun, pronounced /sməʊk/. spoken is at rank #3,336, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈspəʊ.k(ə)n/.
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 5517, this pair ranks #515,025 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of smoke vs spoken
Shared letters: ekos. Private to "smoke": m. Private to "spoken": np.
"smoke" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "spoken" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "smoke" and "spoken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "smoke" vs "spoken" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "smoke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spoken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #515,025 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "smoke" and "spoken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "smock vs smoke". 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 #515,025 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.