deke
/diːk/
"deke" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“deke” is uncommon English (frequency #57,330 among 3,470 “D” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #57,330
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A feint, fake, or other move made by the player with the puck to deceive a goaltender or defenceman.
Corpus desk
Index EN-deke · deke · English
deke · rank #57,330 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #57,330
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH deliverable
Nearest frequency peer: deliverable (+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.
Long-tail ranks near “deke”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- decentralis…
decentralisation
42,674 corpus weight
- decolonizat…
decolonization
42,673 corpus weight
- deke
deke
42,671 corpus weight
- deliverable
deliverable
42,670 corpus weight
- Deluca
Deluca
42,669 corpus weight
- deplore
deplore
42,667 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “deke” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | deke |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /diːk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #57,330 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “deke” in English
Rare enough to double-check
deke is uncommon English at frequency #57,330 among 3,470 “D” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /diːk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
deke doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Canadian English, a contraction of decoy. The correct English form is deke, spelled D-E-K-E.
Definition
- 1A feint, fake, or other move made by the player with the puck to deceive a goaltender or defenceman.
- 2As in hockey, a fake or other move to confuse other players on a team.
- 3A quick detour.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how deke appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Puck carriers will often use the blade of the hockey stick in timing a deke or fake (if one is used) to get around an opponent.
Simmons casually leaned back as if he was going to let the throw go to third. That momentary hesitation made Correa think he could take off for second. Only problem? Simmons was simply laying in wait. He grabbed the ball and threw to first.... Even though Simmons was never the focal point of the play, one deke, one cutoff, and two throws later, he had tri…
Etymology
Canadian English, a contraction of decoy.
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "deke", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).