smile vs still, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“smile” is a noun and “still” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,882
“smile” frequency rank: #22,519
“still” frequency rank: 55401
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	smile	still
Definition	Sonrisa	Silencioso.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set smile and still apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

smile

5 ch

still

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: smile is /smaɪl/ while still is [ʃtɪl]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55401, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

smile is recorded at frequency rank #32,882, classified as anoun, pronounced /smaɪl/. still is at rank #22,519, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ʃtɪl].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 55401, this pair ranks #79,069 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of smile vs still

Shared letters: ils. Private to "smile": em. Private to "still": t.

"smile" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "still" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

smile ← msile · simle · smiel · smille · smlie · smmile · ssmile
still ← sitll · sstill · stil · stlil · sttill · tsill

Frequency comparison

smile#32,882

still#22,519

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "smile" and "still" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "smile" is a noun and "still" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "smile" or "still"?

"still" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,519 in our Spanish list, against #32,882 for "smile". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering smile vs still

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “smile”; for an adjective, it's “still”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “smile” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable