Reek or wreak?
reek is a noun meaning “A strong unpleasant smell”; wreak is a verb meaning “To cause harm; to afflict; to inflict; to harm or injure; to let out harm”. Use reek as a noun and wreak as a verb (reek is also a verb: “To have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) wreak is about 1.5 times as common as reek.
What is the difference between reek and wreak?
| reek | wreak | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | verb, noun |
| Meaning | A strong unpleasant smell ScotlandVapour; steam; smoke; fume To have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell | To cause harm; to afflict; to inflict; to harm or injure; to let out harm |
| Example | You reek of perfume | The earthquake wreaked havoc in the city |
| Forms | reeks | wreaks, wreaking, wreaked |
| Pronunciation | /riːk/ | /ɹiːk/ /ɹik/ |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words | about once in every 1 million words |
Sources: reek and wreak 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 reek and wreak
reek
- 1
A strong unpleasant smell
- 2
To have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell
You reek of perfume
- 3
A pile, a heap (as of snow, hay, etc)
- 4
IrelandA hill; a mountain
- 5
ScotlandVapour; steam; smoke; fume
- 6
To be evidently associated with something unpleasant
The boss appointing his nephew as a director reeks of nepotism
wreak
- 1
To cause harm; to afflict; to inflict; to harm or injure; to let out harm
The earthquake wreaked havoc in the city
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, reek or wreak?
reek appears about once in every 2 million words; wreak about once in every 1 million words.
reek about once in every 2 million wordswreak about once in every 1 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search reek vs wreak?
“reek vs wreak” is searched about 140 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“wreak vs reek”, “reek or wreak”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.