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PlainSpell

honk

/hɑŋk/verb, noun, interjection

honk is spelled H-O-N-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,789th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, honk means “To use a car horn” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in honk?

Letters4: H-O-N-K
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 1 million words; the 30,789th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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 honk?

Honk appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,789th 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 honk?

  • UK /hɒŋk/
  • US /hɑŋk/
  • US /hɔŋk/

Honk 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-honk.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with honk?

8 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as honk from its last stressed vowel (/ɑŋk/):

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 honk

  • honks present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • honking participle, present
  • honked participle, past

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

What does honk mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To use a car horn.

    They stood and observed how long it took for the other cars to honk.

  2. 2

    To make a loud, harsh sound like a car horn.

  3. 3

    To make the vocal sound of a goose.

  4. 4

    slangTo vomit.

  5. 5

    AustraliaUKslangTo have a bad smell.

  6. 6

    informalTo squeeze playfully, usually a breast or nose.

    She honked my titties.

noun

  1. 1

    The harsh note produced by a typical car horn.

  2. 2

    The cry of a goose or similar bird.

  3. 3

    AustraliaUKslangA bad smell.

  4. 4

    Clipping of honky.

interjection

  1. 1

    Imitation of car horn, used, for example, to clear a path for oneself.

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

Honk in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchklaxonner (to use a car horn), cacarder (to honk like a goose), klaxon (the sound produced by a typical car horn), cacardement (the cry of a goose)
Germanhupen, tuten (to use a car horn), schnattern (to honk like a goose), gack (the cry of a goose)
Portuguesebuzinar (to use a car horn), grasnar (to honk like a goose), buzina (the sound produced by a typical car horn), grasno (the cry of a goose), fom, fom fom (Translations)
Spanishpitar, tocar la bocina, tocar el claxon, dar un bocinazo, fotutear, bocinear (to use a car horn)

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 honk come from?

Onomatopoeic.

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

What to look up after honk