quack

[kwmæk]

/[kwmæk]/ verb

The verdict

“quack” is uncommon German (frequency #73,913 among 216 “Q” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#73,913
frequency rank, German
216
“Q” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Geräusche wie eine Ente machen; quaken

Corpus desk

Index DE-quack · quack · German

quack · rank #73,913 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #73,913
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 216
  • PHOTO-FINISH Pumpwerk

Nearest frequency peer: Pumpwerk (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “quack”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “quack” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for quack
PropertyValue
Headwordquack
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[kwmæk]
Letters5
Frequency rank#73,913
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Wo “quack” in der deutschen Häufigkeit sitzt

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).quackliegt hier:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. In derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite liegen „Pumpwerk“ (#73,912), „quadratischer“ (#73,914), „pudelwohl“ (#73,911). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

quack is uncommon German at frequency #73,913 among 216 “Q” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [kwmæk]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Geräusche wie eine Ente machen; quaken".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for quack, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is quack, spelled Q-U-A-C-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    Geräusche wie eine Ente machen; quaken

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how quack appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The duck quacked.
  2. I quack like a duck to amuse my two-year-old.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "quack"?
"quack" is spelled Q-U-A-C-K. The IPA pronunciation is [kwmæk].
What does "quack" mean?
As a verb, "quack" means: Geräusche wie eine Ente machen; quaken
How do you pronounce "quack"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "quack" is [kwmæk]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "quack" come from?
"quack" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "quack", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

What to do next

You've looked up "quack". Here's where to go from here.

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list