cook

/kʊk/

//kʊk// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"cook" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“cook” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #2,248. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,248
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A person who prepares food.

Corpus desk

Index EN-cook · cook · English

cook · rank #2,248 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,248
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH confidence

Nearest frequency peer: confidence (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “cook”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “cook” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

cook vs cop
50% similar
cook vs cow
50% similar
cook vs cos
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for cook
PropertyValue
Headwordcook
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/kʊk/
Letters4
Frequency rank#2,248
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “cook”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).cooklands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “confidence” (#2,247), “cute” (#2,249), “committed” (#2,246). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “cook” is #2,248. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around cook (IPA /kʊk/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #2,248 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for cook, with forms such as "ccook", "cok", and "coko". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "cop", "cow", "cos", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English cook, from Old English cōc (“a cook”), from Latin cocus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ- (“to cook, become ripe”). Cognates Cognate with Cimbrian khoch (“cook”), Dutch kok (“cook”), German Koch (“cook”), Luxembourgish Kach (“c… The correct English form is cook, spelled C-O-O-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    A person who prepares food.
  2. 2
    The head cook of a manor house.
  3. 3
    The degree or quality of cookedness of food.
  4. 4
    The member of a hot-rivetting team who heats the rivets in a brazier, see rivet.
  5. 5
    One who manufactures certain illegal drugs, especially meth.
  6. 6
    A session of manufacturing certain illegal drugs, especially meth.
  7. 7
    A fish, the European striped wrasse, Labrus mixtus.
  8. 8
    An unintended solution to a chess problem, considered to spoil the problem.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. I'm a terrible cook, so I eat a lot of frozen dinners.
  2. Police found two meth cooks working in the illicit lab.

Etymology

From Middle English cook, from Old English cōc (“a cook”), from Latin cocus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ- (“to cook, become ripe”). Cognates Cognate with Cimbrian khoch (“cook”), Dutch kok (“cook”), German Koch (“cook”), Luxembourgish Kach (“cook”), Danish kok (“cook”), Icelandic kokkur (“cook”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk kokk (“cook”), Swedish kock (“cook”). Also compare Proto-West Germanic *kokōn (“to cook”) (whence North Frisian kööge, kööki (“to cook, boil”), West Frisian koaitsje (“to cook”), Cimbrian khochan, khòchan (“to cook”), Dutch koken (“to cook”), German kochen (“to cook”), Limburgish kaoke, kauche (“to cook”), Luxembourgish kachen (“to cook”), Vilamovian kocha, koha (“to cook”), Yiddish קאָכן (kokhn, “to cook”)), from Late Latin cocō (“to cook”).

This word in other languages

cocinero(Español)cuisinier(Français)Koch(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccook
  • cok
  • coko
  • cookk
  • ocok

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cook - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ccook1cok1coko2cookk1ocok2
Edit distance from "cook"

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

How do you spell "cook"?
"cook" is spelled C-O-O-K. The IPA pronunciation is /kʊk/.
What does "cook" mean?
As a noun, "cook" means: A person who prepares food.
What words are commonly confused with "cook"?
"cook" is commonly confused with "cop", "cow", "cos". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "cook"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cook" is /kʊk/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "cook"?
From Middle English cook, from Old English cōc (“a cook”), from Latin cocus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ- (“to cook, become ripe”). Cognates Cognate with Cimbrian khoch (“cook”), Dutch kok (“cook”), German Koch (“cook”), Luxembourgis... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 English words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

cute#2,249fake#2,251Asia#2,243hits#2,254

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

quiet5 variantshole5 variantspure5 variantsmeat5 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list