hockey
/ˈhɑ.ki/noun
hockey is spelled H-O-C-K-E-Y: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,479th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, hockey means “Any of a family of sports in which hockey sticks are used to move a ball or puck into a goal” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of hockey is hockeys.
How many letters and syllables are in hockey?
| Letters | 6: H-O-C-K-E-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 26 times per million words; the 3,479th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| 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 hockey?
Hockey appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,479th 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 hockey?
- UK /ˈhɒ.ki/
- UK /ˈhɒk.i/
- US /ˈhɑ.ki/
Hockey has 2 syllables (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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-hockey.wav, En-us-hockey.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with hockey?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as hockey from its last stressed vowel (/ɑki/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: chokey.
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 hockey
- hockeys plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hockey mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of a family of sports in which hockey sticks are used to move a ball or puck into a goal.
- 2
CommonwealthField hockey, a team sport played on a pitch on solid ground where players have to hit a ball into a net using a hockey stick.
He helped his team beat the opponent at hockey 11-9 in a high-scoring match.
- 3
CanadaUSIce hockey, a game on ice in which two teams of six players skate and try to score by shooting a puck into the opposing team's net, using their sticks.
US stadiums are packed in the winter to see ice hockey.
- 4
USslangFeces, excrement.
- 5
datedAlternative form of oche.
- 6
Alternative form of hawkey (“harvest supper”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Hockey in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense the sport:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | hockey sur gazon, hockey sur glace, hockey |
| German | Hockey, Eishockey |
| Portuguese | hóquei |
| Spanish | hockey |
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 hockey come from?
16th century, of unknown origin. Possibly related to hook due to the curvature of the stick, akin to hock (“hook”) + -ey, or from Middle French hoquet (“shepherd's staff, crook”), which resembles a hockey stick, via a diminutive form of Old French hoc from Middle Dutch hoec (“hook”), a cognate of Old English hōc.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).