Smokey or smoky?
smokey is an adjective meaning “Alternative spelling of smoky”; smoky is an adjective meaning “Filled with smoke”. Wiktionary gives them as spellings of the same word. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) smoky is about as common as smokey.
What is the difference between smokey and smoky?
| smokey | smoky | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective, noun | adjective |
| Meaning | A state trooper Highway patrolman A campaign hat | Filled with smoke Filled with or enveloped in tobacco smoke |
| Example | none recorded | a smoky cabin |
| Forms | none | smokier, smokiest |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˈsmoʊki/ |
| In writing | 1.9 times per million words | 2.1 times per million words |
Sources: smokey and smoky in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of smokey and smoky
smokey
- 1
Alternative spelling of smoky
- 2
A state trooper
- 3
Highway patrolman
- 4
slangA cop, a police officer
- 5
A campaign hat
smoky
- 1
Filled with smoke
a smoky cabin
- 2
Filled with or enveloped in tobacco smoke
a smoky bar
- 3
Giving off smoke
a smoky oil lamp
- 4
Of a colour or colour pattern similar to that of smoke
- 5
Having a flavour or odour like smoke; flavoured with smoke
a smoky whisky
- 6
Resembling or composed of smoke
- 7
Blackened by smoke
- 8
Addicted to or associated with the smoking of tobacco
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, smokey or smoky?
smokey appears 1.9 times per million words; smoky 2.1 times per million words.
smokey 1.9 times per million wordssmoky 2.1 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search smokey vs smoky?
“smokey vs smoky” is searched about 720 times a month on Google and 90 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“smoky vs smokey”, “smokey or smoky”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.