smell

/smɛl/

//smɛl// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"smell" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“smell” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,086. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,086
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance.

Corpus desk

Index EN-smell · smell · English

smell · rank #3,086 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,086
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH settlement

Nearest frequency peer: settlement (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “smell”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “smell” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

smell vs still
60% similar
smell vs steel
60% similar
smell vs smile
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for smell
PropertyValue
Headwordsmell
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/smɛl/
Letters5
Frequency rank#3,086
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “smell”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).smelllands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “settlement” (#3,085), “sought” (#3,087), “Santa” (#3,084). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “smell” is #3,086. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around smell (IPA /smɛl/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,086 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for smell, with forms such as "msell", "semll", and "smel". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "still", "steel", "smile", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *smel- Proto-West Germanic *smalljan Old English *smiellan Middle English smellen English smell From Middle English smellen, smillen, smyllen, smullen, from Old English *smyllan, *smiellan (“to smell, emit fumes”), from Pr… The correct English form is smell, spelled S-M-E-L-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance.
  2. 2
    The sense that detects odours.
  3. 3
    A conclusion or intuition that a situation is wrong, more complex than it seems, or otherwise inappropriate.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how smell appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. I love the smell of fresh bread.
  2. The penetrating smell of cabbage reached the nose of Toad as he lay prostrate in his misery on the floor, and gave him the idea for a moment that perhaps life was not such a blank and desperate thing as he had imagined. But still he wailed, and kicked with his legs, and refused to be comforted. So the wise girl retired for the time, but, of course, a good…

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *smel- Proto-West Germanic *smalljan Old English *smiellan Middle English smellen English smell From Middle English smellen, smillen, smyllen, smullen, from Old English *smyllan, *smiellan (“to smell, emit fumes”), from Proto-West Germanic *smallijan (“to glow, burn, smoulder”), from Proto-Indo-European *smel- (“to burn, smoke, smoulder; tar, pitch”). The noun is from Middle English smel, smil, smul (“smell, odour”). Related to Saterland Frisian smeele (“to smoulder”), Middle Dutch smōlen (“to burn, smoulder”) (whence Dutch smeulen (“to smoulder”)), Middle Low German smölen (“to be hazy, be dusty”) (whence Low German smölen (“smoulder”)), Low German smullen (“emit smoke”), West Flemish smoel (“stuffy, muggy, hazy”), Danish smul (“dust, powder”), Lithuanian smilkyti (“to incense, fumigate”), Lithuanian smilkti (“to smudge, smolder, fume, reek”), Lithuanian smalkinti (“to fume”), Middle Irish smál, smól, smúal (“fire, gleed, embers, ashes”), Russian смола́ (smolá, “resin, tar”). Compare smoulder, smother.

Synonyms

aromafragranceodorodourscentaromaniffpongreekstenchstinkolfactionsense of smellflairsmell

This word in other languages

olor(Español)odeur(Français)Geruch(Deutsch)cheiro(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • msell
  • semll
  • smel
  • smlel
  • smmell
  • ssmell

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of smell - 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.

msell2semll2smel1smlel2smmell1ssmell1
Edit distance from "smell"

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

How do you spell "smell"?
"smell" is spelled S-M-E-L-L. The IPA pronunciation is /smɛl/.
What does "smell" mean?
As a noun, "smell" means: A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance.
What words are commonly confused with "smell"?
"smell" is commonly confused with "still", "steel", "smile". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "smell"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "smell" is /smɛl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "smell"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *smel- Proto-West Germanic *smalljan Old English *smiellan Middle English smellen English smell From Middle English smellen, smillen, smyllen, smullen, from Old English *smyllan, *smiellan (“to smell, emit fumes”... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "smell", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Santa#3,084rough#3,083topic#3,093pride#3,078

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

vast6 variantsKong6 variantsjury6 variantsgrey6 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list