cakewalk
/ˈkeɪk.wɔk/
"cakewalk" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cakewalk” is an uncommon English word, ranked #54,667 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #54,667
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A contest in which cake was offered for the best dancers.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cakewalk |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkeɪk.wɔk/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #54,667 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cakewalk” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cakewalk is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkeɪk.wɔk/. Corpus data places it at rank #54,667 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No generated misspelling entries exist for cakewalk in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From cake + walk. Originally an African-American form of dance and music that developed after the Civil War, later popularised by minstrel shows. It was danced at social events, with the best dancers often receiving cake as a prize. It derives from dance co… The correct English form is cakewalk, spelled C-A-K-E-W-A-L-K.
Definition
- 1A contest in which cake was offered for the best dancers.
- 2The style of music associated with such a contest.
- 3The dance, or strutting style of dance, associated with such a contest.
- 4Something that is easy or simple, or that does not present a great challenge.
Etymology
From cake + walk. Originally an African-American form of dance and music that developed after the Civil War, later popularised by minstrel shows. It was danced at social events, with the best dancers often receiving cake as a prize. It derives from dance competitions by plantation slaves in which the style of dance lampooned the ballroom dances of the slaveowners. Slaveowners seem to have found the competitions entertaining and the habit of offering cake may originate from this period. The name is sometimes also applied to the dance's precursor on the plantations. Doing the cakewalk well required virtuosity, and a major aesthetic aspect of that virtuosity was the apparent ease with which the dance was performed. This gave rise to the idiom as easy as a cakewalk, which in turn led to the sense of cakewalk as something that is easy. See the linked Wikipedia article for more.
This word in other languages
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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “cakewalk”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-A-K-E-W-A-L-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkeɪk.wɔk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.