Smelt vs. Smolt — What's the Difference?

To melt or fuse (ores) in order to separate the metallic constituents.

A young salmon when it becomes covered with silvery scales and first migrates from fresh water to the sea.

To melt or fuse. Used of ores.

To become a smolt.

A past tense and a past participle of smell.

Bright; serene.

Any of various small silvery marine, freshwater, and anadromous food fishes of the family Osmeridae, found in cold waters of the Northern Hemisphere, especially Osmerus mordax of North America and O. eperlanus of Europe.

Calm; fine; fair.

Any small anadromous fish of the family Osmeridae, found in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and in lakes in North America and northern part of Europe.

Smooth and shining.

(obsolete) A fool; a simpleton.

A young salmon two or three years old, when it has acquired its silvery color.

Production of metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves melting and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal.

A young salmon two or three years old, when it has acquired its silvery color.

Any of the various liquids or semi-molten solids produced and used during the course of such production.

Simple past tense and past participle of smell

To fuse or melt two things into one, especially in order to extract metal from ore; to meld.

Any one of numerous species of small silvery salmonoid fishes of the genus Osmerus and allied genera, which ascend rivers to spawn, and sometimes become landlocked in lakes. They are esteemed as food, and have a peculiar odor and taste.

A gull; a simpleton.

To melt or fuse, as, ore, for the purpose of separating and refining the metal; hence, to reduce; to refine; to flux or scorify; as, to smelt tin.

Small cold-water silvery fish; migrate between salt and fresh water

Small trout-like silvery marine or freshwater food fishes of cold northern waters

Extract (metals) by heating