sample vs smile, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“sample” and “smile” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#40,483
“sample” frequency rank: #27,233
“smile” frequency rank: 67716
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	sample	smile
Definition	Variante de semple.	Sourire.

Letter map: sample vs smile

Shared letters muted; letters that set sample and smile apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch

sample

5 ch

smile

Corpus notes: sample and smile

sample and smile are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67716, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sample is recorded at frequency rank #40,483, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɑ̃pl\. smile is at rank #27,233, tagged as anoun.

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 67716, this pair ranks #62,193 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sample vs smile

Shared letters: elms. Private to "sample": ap. Private to "smile": i.

"sample" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "smile" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

sample ← asmple · samlpe · sammple · sampel · samplle · sampple · sapmle · smaple
smile ← msile · simle · smiel · smille · smlie · smmile · ssmile

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sample" and "smile" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

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

"smile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,233 in our French list, against #40,483 for "sample". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "sample" and "smile".

Full dictionary entry for "sample" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "smile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #62,193 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"sample" and "smile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sample vs samples". Nearby pair
Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #62,193 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.