salevssmileWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sale is a noun, smile is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#28,024
“sale” frequency rank
#17,641
“smile” frequency rank
45665
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sale smile
Definition ver liquidação sorrir

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
sale
5 ch
smile

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sale is anoun and smileaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45665, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sale is recorded at frequency rank #28,024, classified as anoun. smile is at rank #17,641, tagged as averb, pronounced * /smiːlø/])]].

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 45665, this pair ranks #19,728 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sale vs smile

Shared letters: els. Private to "sale": a. Private to "smile": im.

"sale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "smile" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • saleasle · sael · salle · slae · ssale
  • smilemsile · simle · smiel · smille · smlie · smmile · ssmile

Frequency comparison

sale#28,024
smile#17,641

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sale" and "smile" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sale" is a noun and "smile" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sale" or "smile"?
"smile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,641 in our Portuguese list, against #28,024 for "sale". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sale vs smile

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list