Caulk or cork?
caulk is a noun meaning “Caulking”; cork is a noun meaning “The dead protective tissue between the bark and cambium in woody plants, with…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) cork is about 26 times as common as caulk.
What is the difference between caulk and cork?
| caulk | cork | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun, verb, adjective |
| Meaning | Caulking A composition of vehicle and pigment used at ambient temperatures for filling/sealing joints or junctures, that remains elastic for an extended period of time… To drive oakum into the seams of a ship's wooden deck or hull to make it watertight | The dead protective tissue between the bark and cambium in woody plants, with suberin deposits making it impervious to gasses and water The phellem of the cork oak, used for making bottle stoppers, flotation devices, and insulation material To seal or stop up, especially with a cork stopper |
| Example | none recorded | Snobs feel it's hard to call it wine with a straight face when the cork is made of plastic |
| Forms | caulks | corks |
| Pronunciation | /kɔːk/ /kɔk/ /kɑk/ | /kɔɹk/ /kɔːk/ |
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words | 5.1 times per million words |
Sources: caulk and cork in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of caulk and cork
caulk
- 1
Caulking
- 2
To drive oakum into the seams of a ship's wooden deck or hull to make it watertight
- 3
A composition of vehicle and pigment used at ambient temperatures for filling/sealing joints or junctures, that remains elastic for an extended period of time after application
- 4
To apply caulking to joints, cracks, or a juncture of different materials
- 5
Alternative form of calk (“pointed projection on a horseshoe”)
- 6
slangTo copulate
- 7
slangA short sleep; a nap
- 8
slangTo take a short sleep; to nap
cork
- 1
The dead protective tissue between the bark and cambium in woody plants, with suberin deposits making it impervious to gasses and water
- 2
To seal or stop up, especially with a cork stopper
- 3
An aerialist maneuver involving a rotation where the rider goes heels over head, with the board overhead
- 4
To perform such a maneuver
- 5
Having the property of a head over heels rotation
- 6
The phellem of the cork oak, used for making bottle stoppers, flotation devices, and insulation material
- 7
To blacken (as) with a burnt cork
- 8
A bottle stopper made from this or any other material
Snobs feel it's hard to call it wine with a straight face when the cork is made of plastic
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, caulk or cork?
caulk appears about once in every 5 million words; cork 5.1 times per million words.
caulk about once in every 5 million wordscork 5.1 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).