Which to use
“skill” is a verb and “smile” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,041
- “skill” frequency rank
- #27,233
- “smile” frequency rank
- 66274
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | skill | smile |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Séparer, diviser. | Sourire. |
Letter map: skill vs smile
Shared letters muted; letters that set skill and smile apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Part-of-speech tell for skill / smile
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: skill is averb and smileanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66274, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
skill is recorded at frequency rank #39,041, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈskɪl\. 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 66274, this pair ranks #68,517 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of skill vs smile
Shared letters: ils. Private to "skill": k. Private to "smile": em.
"skill" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "smile" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "skill" and "smile" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "skill" or "smile" show up more?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "skill" and "smile".
- Full dictionary entry for "skill" 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 #68,517 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "skill" and "smile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "skill vs skull". 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 #68,517 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.