smote

/sməʊt/

//sməʊt// verb

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

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

The verdict

“smote” is uncommon English (frequency #67,054 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#67,054
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - simple past of smite

Corpus desk

Index EN-smote · smote · English

smote · rank #67,054 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #67,054
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH slumdog

Nearest frequency peer: slumdog (-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.

Long-tail ranks near “smote”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “smote” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for smote
PropertyValue
Headwordsmote
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/sməʊt/
Letters5
Frequency rank#67,054
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “smote” in English

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).smotefalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “slumdog” (#67,053), “sockeye” (#67,055), “sleuthing” (#67,052). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “smote” is #67,054. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

smote is uncommon English at frequency #67,054 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /sməʊt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for smote in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is smote, spelled S-M-O-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    simple past of smite
  2. 2
    past participle of smite
  3. 3
    simple past of smight

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Hounds whimpered and marked at the stick-pile. Their many tongues smote all other sounds from Tarka’s ears.
  2. As thy eye beames, when their freſh rayſe haue ſmot.

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 "smote"?
"smote" is spelled S-M-O-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is /sməʊt/.
What does "smote" mean?
As a verb, "smote" means: simple past of smite
How do you pronounce "smote"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "smote" is /sməʊt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "smote" come from?
"smote" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "smote", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Solas#67,059solus#67,061soppy#67,062Seiji#67,031

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list