There is a large difference between the common cold and sinus infection but still some people get confused because they all cause a runny nose, congestion and a cough and it becomes difficult to diagnose. In general, the symptoms associated with cold are much milder which includes high fever, body pain, and fatigue. And although sinus infection symptoms can be very similar to cold symptoms, they often long for more than seven to ten days. Many people think that a green or yellow runny nose is a symptom of sinusitis. Well that is common misconception among people and it is a symptom of common cold and not of sinus. What matters in sinus infection is that how long the sickness lasts and not the color of the nasal drainage.
However it is true that sinus may feel like cold because of some symptoms like persistent cough, presence of thick mucus for more than a week followed by fever, tenderness and pain over the affected sinuses, feeling of pressure in the sinuses which might get worsen on bending and drainage from the nose which often changes from clear to thicker yellowish green color. In healthy adults and elder children symptoms of cold longs for a week whereas in infants it lasts longer and in some cases it even proves fatal. It is noteworthy that sometimes it seems like that a child has cold for months but actually it is not cold but a succession of different cold viruses.