creak

Name: creak, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

/kɹiːk/

//kɹiːk// noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed May 6, 2026

The verdict

“creak” is uncommon English (frequency #51,636 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#51,636
frequency rank, English: 43,570
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The sound produced by anything that creaks; a creaking.

Key facts for creak
Property	Value
Headword	creak
Language	English
Part of speech	Noun
IPA	/kɹiːk/
Letters	5
Frequency rank	#51,636
Misspellings tracked	0
Confusable pairs	0
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “creak” sits in English frequency

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

#51,636

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

creak is uncommon English at frequency #51,636 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /kɹiːk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The sound produced by anything that creaks; a creaking.".

creak has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English creken, criken, metathesis of Old English cearcian (“to chatter, creak, crash, gnash”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn (“to crash, crack, creak”), from Proto-Germanic *krakōną, from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to make a sound, cry ho… The correct English form is creak, spelled C-R-E-A-K.

Definition

1
The sound produced by anything that creaks; a creaking.

Etymology

From Middle English creken, criken, metathesis of Old English cearcian (“to chatter, creak, crash, gnash”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn (“to crash, crack, creak”), from Proto-Germanic *krakōną, from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to make a sound, cry hoarsely”), ultimately of imitative origin. Compare also Old English crǣccettan, crācettan (“to croak”), Albanian grykë (“throat”). More at crack.

This word in other languages

crujido(Español)craquement(Français)Knarren(Deutsch)

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 "creak"?

"creak" is spelled C-R-E-A-K. The IPA pronunciation is /kɹiːk/.

What does "creak" mean?

As a noun, "creak" means: The sound produced by anything that creaks; a creaking.

How do you pronounce "creak"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "creak" is /kɹiːk/. 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 "creak"?

From Middle English creken, criken, metathesis of Old English cearcian (“to chatter, creak, crash, gnash”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn (“to crash, crack, creak”), from Proto-Germanic *krakōną, from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to make a sou... See the full etymology section above for more details.

Is PlainSpell free to use?

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Using “creak”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

The one correct English spelling is C-R-E-A-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Say it as /kɹiːk/ (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

Other uncommon English words near this rank

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.