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PlainSpell

deck

/ˈdɛk/noun, verb

deck is spelled D-E-C-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,558th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, deck means “Any raised flat surface that can be walked on: a balcony; a porch; a raised patio; a flat rooftop” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of deck is decks.

How many letters and syllables are in deck?

Letters4: D-E-C-K
Syllables1
In writing26 times per million words; the 3,558th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is deck?

Deck appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,558th 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 deck?

  • US /ˈdɛk/
  • Australia /ˈdek/

Deck has one syllable.

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

Words people confuse with deck

Sounds like: deque (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: dike.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with deck?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as deck from its last stressed vowel (/ɛk/):

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 deck

  • decks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • decking participle, present
  • decked participle, past

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

What does deck mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    Any raised flat surface that can be walked on: a balcony; a porch; a raised patio; a flat rooftop.

  2. 2

    The floorlike covering of the horizontal sections, or compartments, of a ship or boat. Small vessels have only one deck; larger ships have two or three decks.

    Holonyms: watercraft, vessel, vessel

  3. 3

    A main aeroplane surface, especially of a biplane or multiplane.

  4. 4

    A pack or set of playing cards.

  5. 5

    A set of cards owned by each individual player and from which they draw when playing.

  6. 6

    A headline consisting of one or more full lines of text; especially, a subheadline.

  7. 7

    Ellipsis of slide deck: a set of slides for a presentation.

  8. 8

    A collection of cards (pages or forms) in systems such as WML (Wireless Markup Language) and HyperCard.

verb

  1. 1

    To furnish with a deck.

    to deck a vessel

  2. 2

    informalTo knock (someone) to the floor, especially with a single punch.

    Wow, did you see her deck that guy who pinched her?

  3. 3

    To cause (a player) to run out of cards to draw, usually making them lose the game.

  4. 4

    archaicTo dress (someone) up, to clothe with more than ordinary elegance.

  5. 5

    archaicTo decorate (something).

  6. 6

    To cover; to overspread.

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

Deck in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanTerrasse (any raised flat surface walked on), Kartenstapel, Kartenspiel (pack of playing cards), Deck (floorlike covering on a ship), niederschlagen ((slang) to knock someone to the floor with a…)
Spanishpiso, plataforma, balcón, terraza (any raised flat surface walked on), baraja, desencuadernado (pack of playing cards)
Frenchjeu de cartes (pack of playing cards), pont (floorlike covering on a ship)
Portuguesebaralho (pack of playing cards), convés, deque (floorlike covering on a ship)

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 deck come from?

From Middle English dekke, borrowed from Middle Dutch dec (“roof, covering”), from Middle Dutch decken, from Old Dutch thecken, from Proto-West Germanic *þakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *þakjaną. Formed the same: German Decke (“covering, blanket”). Doublet of thatch and thack.

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

What to look up after deck