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PlainSpell

chalk

/t͡ʃɔk/noun, verb

chalk is spelled C-H-A-L-K. The wrong spelling people search most is chawk: about 80 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 71 of all searches for the word. Chalk is a noun meaning “A soft, white, powdery limestone (calcium carbonate, CaCO₃)”. The plural of chalk is chalks.

How many letters and syllables are in chalk?

Letters5: C-H-A-L-K
Syllables1
In writing4.9 times per million words; the 11,373rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, chawk, about 80 Bing searches a month (all of them)
Pairs people search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How do you spell chalk?

Chalk is spelled C-H-A-L-K. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 71 of the searches for chalk in either form.

chalkthe right spelling5,620 searches a month
chawkw in place of l80 searches a month

Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.

How common is chalk?

Chalk appears 4.9 times per million words in written English, the 11,373rd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce chalk?

  • UK /t͡ʃɔːk/
  • British /t͡ʃoːk/
  • US /t͡ʃɔk/

Chalk has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-chalk.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with chalk

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

chalk vs chock20 G

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with chalk?

7 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as chalk from its last stressed vowel (/ɔk/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of chalk

  • chalks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • chalking participle, present
  • chalked participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does chalk mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A soft, white, powdery limestone (calcium carbonate, CaCO₃).

    chalk cliffs are not recommended for climbing

  2. 2

    A piece of chalk, or nowadays processed compressed gypsum (calcium sulfate, CaSO₄), that is used for drawing and for writing on a blackboard (chalkboard).

  3. 3

    Tailor's chalk.

  4. 4

    A white powdery substance used to prevent hands slipping from holds when climbing, or losing grip in weight-lifting or gymnastics, sometimes but not always limestone-chalk, often magnesium carbonate (MgCO₃).

    when working out your next move, it's a good idea to get some more chalk from the bag

  5. 5

    USA platoon-sized group of airborne soldiers.

  6. 6

    USThe favorite in a sporting event.

  7. 7

    USThe prediction that there will be no upsets, and the favored competitor will win.

verb

  1. 1

    To apply chalk to anything, such as the tip of a billiard cue.

    chalk your hands before climbing

  2. 2

    To record something, as on a blackboard, using chalk.

  3. 3

    To use powdered chalk to mark the lines on a playing field.

  4. 4

    To record a score or event, as if on a chalkboard.

  5. 5

    To manure (land) with chalk.

  6. 6

    To make white, as if with chalk; to make pale; to bleach.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Chalk in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcraie (soft, white, powdery limestone), magnésie (white powdery substance used for grip in…)
GermanKreide (soft, white, powdery limestone), Magnesiapulver (white powdery substance used for grip in…)
Portuguesegesso (soft, white, powdery limestone), giz (a piece of chalk used for drawing and on a…)
Spanishtiza, creta (soft, white, powdery limestone), gis, clarión, pizarrín (a piece of chalk used for drawing and on a…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does chalk come from?

Inherited from Middle English chalk, chalke, from Old English ċealc, from Proto-West Germanic *kalk, borrowed from Latin calx (“limestone”), again borrowed from Ancient Greek χάλιξ (khálix, “pebble”). Doublet of calx and cauk.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after chalk