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PlainSpell

creep

/kɹiːp/verb, noun

creep is spelled C-R-E-E-P: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 6.9 times per million words in written English, the 9,045th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, creep means “To move slowly with the abdomen close to the ground” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in creep?

Letters5: C-R-E-E-P
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing6.9 times per million words; the 9,045th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is creep?

Creep appears 6.9 times per million words in written English, the 9,045th 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 creep?

  • /kɹiːp/
  • [kʰɹiːp]

Creep has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

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

What rhymes with creep?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as creep.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: crepe.

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 creep

  • creeps present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • creeping participle, present
  • crept past, participle
  • creeped past, participle

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

What does creep mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To move slowly with the abdomen close to the ground.

    Lizards and snakes crept over the ground.

  2. 2

    To grow across a surface rather than upwards.

  3. 3

    To move slowly and quietly in a particular direction.

    He tried to creep past the guard without being seen.

  4. 4

    To make small gradual changes, usually in a particular direction.

    Prices have been creeping up all year.

  5. 5

    To move in a stealthy or secret manner; to move imperceptibly or clandestinely; to insinuate itself or oneself.

    Old age creeps upon us.

  6. 6

    To slip, or to become slightly displaced.

    The collodion on a negative, or a coat of varnish, may creep in drying.

  7. 7

    To move or behave with servility or exaggerated humility; to fawn.

    A creeping sycophant.

  8. 8

    To have a sensation as of insects creeping on the skin of the body; to crawl.

    The sight made my flesh creep.

noun

  1. 1

    The movement of something that creeps (like worms or snails).

  2. 2

    A relatively small gradual change, variation or deviation (from a planned value) in a measure.

  3. 3

    A slight displacement of an object; the slight movement of something.

  4. 4

    The gradual expansion or proliferation of something beyond its original goals or boundaries, considered negatively.

    Christmas creep

  5. 5

    In sewn books, the tendency of pages on the inside of a quire to stand out farther than those on the outside of it.

  6. 6

    An increase in strain with time; the gradual flow or deformation of a material under stress.

  7. 7

    The imperceptible downslope movement of surface rock.

  8. 8

    derogatoryinformalSomeone creepy (annoyingly unpleasant), especially one who is strange or eccentric.

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

Creep in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchramper (to grow across a surface rather than upwards), rampement (movement of something that creeps), fatigue, fluage (gradual deformation of material under stress), reptation (geology: imperceptible downslope movement of…)
Germankriechen (to grow across a surface rather than upwards), Kriechen (gradual deformation of material under stress), schleichen (to move slowly and quietly in a particular…), Knilch, Widerling (informal: annoyingly unpleasant person)
Portuguesetrepar (to grow across a surface rather than upwards), rastejo (movement of something that creeps), rastejar (to move slowly and quietly in a particular…), esgueirar (to move in a stealthy or secret manner), formigar (to have a sensation as of insects creeping on…), esquisito (pejorative: frightening or disconcerting person)
Spanishreptar (to grow across a surface rather than upwards), deformación por fluencia lenta (gradual deformation of material under stress), desgraciado, alimaña, depravado (informal: annoyingly unpleasant person), hormiguear (to have a sensation as of insects creeping on…)

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 creep come from?

From Middle English crepen, from Old English crēopan (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-West Germanic *kreupan, from Proto-Germanic *kreupaną (“to twist, creep”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewbʰ- (“to turn, wind”).

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

What to look up after creep