smear
/smɪə(ɹ)/
"smear" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“smear” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #15,912 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #15,912
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To spread (a substance, especially one that colours or is dirty) across a surface by rubbing.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | smear |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /smɪə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #15,912 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “smear” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for smear is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /smɪə(ɹ)/. Corpus data places it at rank #15,912 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for smear, with forms such as "msear", "semar", and "smaer". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "star", "soar", "spar", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English smeren, smerien, from Old English smerian, smyrian, smierwan (“to anoint or rub with grease, oil, etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *smirwijan, from Proto-Germanic *smirwijaną. Doublet of schmear. Cognate with Saterland Frisian smeere, Du… The correct English form is smear, spelled S-M-E-A-R.
Definition
- 1To spread (a substance, especially one that colours or is dirty) across a surface by rubbing.
- 2To cover (a surface with a layer of some substance) by rubbing.
- 3To make something dirty.
- 4(of a substance, etc.) To make a surface dirty by covering it.
- 5To damage someone's reputation by slandering, misrepresenting, or otherwise making false accusations about them, their statements, or their actions.
- 6To cause (something) to be messy or not clear by rubbing and spreading it.
- 7To become messy or not clear by being spread.
- 8To write or draw (something) by spreading a substance on a surface.
- 9To cause (something) to be a particular colour by covering with a substance.
- 10To rub (a body part, etc.) across a surface.
- 11To attempt to remove (a substance) from a surface by rubbing.
- 12To climb without using footholds, using the friction from the shoe to stay on the wall.
Etymology
From Middle English smeren, smerien, from Old English smerian, smyrian, smierwan (“to anoint or rub with grease, oil, etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *smirwijan, from Proto-Germanic *smirwijaną. Doublet of schmear. Cognate with Saterland Frisian smeere, Dutch smeren, Low German smeren, German schmieren.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: msear,semar,smaer,smearr,smera,smmear,ssmear
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of smear - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “smear”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-M-E-A-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /smɪə(ɹ)/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “star” - see the side-by-side comparison. smear vs star
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.