smile vs smileys, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#27,233
“smile” frequency rank: #41,540
“smileys” frequency rank: 68773
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	smile	smileys
Definition	Sourire.	Pluriel de smiley.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set smile and smileys apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

smile

7 ch

smileys

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

smile and smileys 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 2 extra letter(s) - “smile” sits inside “smileys”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68773, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

smile is recorded at frequency rank #27,233, classified as anoun. smileys is at rank #41,540, tagged as anoun, pronounced \smaj.li\.

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 68773, this pair ranks #57,778 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of smile vs smileys

Shared letters: eilms. Private to "smile": -. Private to "smileys": y.

"smile" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "smileys" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

smile ← msile · simle · smiel · smille · smlie · smmile · ssmile
smileys ← msileys · simleys · smielys · smilesy · smileyss · smileyys · smilleys · smilyes

Frequency comparison

smile#27,233

smileys#41,540

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

No. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “smile” sits inside “smileys”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

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

"smile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,233 in our French list, against #41,540 for "smileys". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering smile vs smileys

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
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