dike
/daɪk/
"dike" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dike” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #34,858 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #34,858
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Alternative spelling of dyke: ditch; embankment; waterway; etc.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dike |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /daɪk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #34,858 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dike” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for dike is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /daɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #34,858 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Alternative spelling of dyke: ditch; embankment; waterway; etc.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for dike, with forms such as "ddike", "diek", and "dikke". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "due", "dip", "doe", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is dike, spelled D-I-K-E.
Definition
- 1Alternative spelling of dyke: ditch; embankment; waterway; etc.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddike,diek,dikke,dkie,idke
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dike - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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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Using “dike”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-I-K-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /daɪk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “due” - see the side-by-side comparison. dike vs due
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.