smuggle
/ˈsmʌɡəl/
"smuggle" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“smuggle” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #25,210 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #25,210
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
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 | smuggle |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈsmʌɡəl/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #25,210 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “smuggle” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for smuggle is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsmʌɡəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #25,210 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for smuggle, with forms such as "msuggle", "smgugle", and "smmuggle". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "snuggle", "struggle", "smuggler", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From earlier smuckle, either from Dutch smokkelen (“to smuggle”), a frequentative form of Middle Dutch smūken (“to act secretly, be sneaky”), from Old Dutch *smugan, or from Dutch Low Saxon or German Low German smuggeln; all are from Proto-West Germanic *sm… The correct English form is smuggle, spelled S-M-U-G-G-L-E.
Definition
- 1To import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
- 2To bring in surreptitiously
- 3To fondle or cuddle.
- 4To thrash or be thrashed by a bear's claws, or to swipe at or be swiped at by a person's arms in a bearlike manner.
Etymology
From earlier smuckle, either from Dutch smokkelen (“to smuggle”), a frequentative form of Middle Dutch smūken (“to act secretly, be sneaky”), from Old Dutch *smugan, or from Dutch Low Saxon or German Low German smuggeln; all are from Proto-West Germanic *smeugan (“to creep; slip through or into”). cognates and related terms Cognate with Saterland Frisian smuggelje (“to smuggle”), West Frisian smokkelje (“to smuggle”), German Low German smuggeln, smuckeln (“to move insidiously, smuggle”), German schmuggeln (“to smuggle”), Danish smugle (“to smuggle”), Swedish smuggla (“to smuggle”). Related also to Icelandic smjúga (“to creep, penetrate”), Swedish smyga (“to sneak, slip, crawl, lurk, steal”), German schmiegen (“to nestle, wrap, snuggle”), Old English smēogan, smūgan (“to creep, crawl, move gradually, penetrate”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: msuggle,smgugle,smmuggle,smuggel,smugglle,smugle,smuglge,ssmuggle,sumggle
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of smuggle - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "smuggle"?
What does "smuggle" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "smuggle"?
How do you pronounce "smuggle"?
What is the origin of the word "smuggle"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “smuggle”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-M-U-G-G-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsmʌɡəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “snuggle” - see the side-by-side comparison. smuggle vs snuggle
- 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.