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hook

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

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Letters

4 characters

Language

English

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "hook", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "hook" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "hook" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

hook is aEnglishnoun. It means: A rod bent into a curved shape, typically with one end free and the other end secured to a rope or other attachment. Pronounced /hʊk/. It ranks #3,816 in English word frequency. Often confused with how and hot.

Key facts for hook
PropertyValue
Headwordhook
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/hʊk/
Letters4
Frequency rank#3,816
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of hook in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for hook is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /hʊk/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,816 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 37 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for hook, with forms such as "hhook", "hok", and "hoko". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "how", "hot", "hop", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English hoke, from Old English hōc (“angle, point, hook”), from Proto-West Germanic *hōk, from Proto-Germanic *hōkaz, variant of *hakô (“hook”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kog-, *keg-, *keng- (“peg, hook, claw”). Cognates Cogn… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is hook, spelled H-O-O-K, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A rod bent into a curved shape, typically with one end free and the other end secured to a rope or other attachment.
  2. 2
    A barbed metal hook used for fishing; a fishhook.
  3. 3
    Any of various hook-shaped agricultural implements such as a billhook.
  4. 4
    The curved needle used in the art of crochet.
  5. 5
    The part of a hinge which is fixed to a post, and on which a door or gate hangs and turns.
  6. 6
    A loop shaped like a hook under certain written letters, for example, g and j.
  7. 7
    A tie-in to a current event or trend that makes a news story or editorial relevant and timely.
  8. 8
    A snare; a trap.
  9. 9
    An advantageous hold.
  10. 10
    The projecting points of the thighbones of cattle; called also hook bones.
  11. 11
    Removal or expulsion from a group or activity.
  12. 12
    A field sown two years in succession.
  13. 13
    A grasp (of), an attachment (to).
  14. 14
    A brief, punchy opening statement intended to get attention from an audience, reader, or viewer, and make them want to continue to listen to a speech, read a book, or watch a play.
  15. 15
    A gimmick or element of a creative work intended to be attention-grabbing for the audience; a compelling idea for a story that will be sure to attract people's attention.
  16. 16
    A finesse.
  17. 17
    A jack (the playing card).
  18. 18
    A sharp bend or angle in the course or length of an object (e.g. a bend in a river, etc.).
  19. 19
    A spit or narrow cape of sand or gravel turned landward at the outer end, such as Sandy Hook in New Jersey.
  20. 20
    A catchy musical phrase which forms the basis of a popular song.
  21. 21
    A ship's anchor.
  22. 22
    Part of a system's operation that can be intercepted to change or augment its behaviour.
  23. 23
    An instance of playing a word perpendicular to a word already on the board, adding a letter to the start or the end of the word to form a new word.
  24. 24
    A diacritical mark shaped like the upper part of a question mark, as in ỏ.
  25. 25
    A háček.
  26. 26
    Senses relating to sports.
  27. 27
    Senses relating to sports.
  28. 28
    Senses relating to sports.
  29. 29
    Senses relating to sports.
  30. 30
    Senses relating to sports.
  31. 31
    Senses relating to sports.
  32. 32
    Senses relating to sports.
  33. 33
    Any of the chevrons denoting rank.
  34. 34
    A prostitute.
  35. 35
    A pickpocket.
  36. 36
    Synonym of shoulder (“the part of a wave that has not yet broken”).
  37. 37
    A knee-shaped wooden join connecting the keel to the stem (post forming the frontmost part of the bow) or the sternpost in cog-like vessels or similar vessels.

Etymology

From Middle English hoke, from Old English hōc (“angle, point, hook”), from Proto-West Germanic *hōk, from Proto-Germanic *hōkaz, variant of *hakô (“hook”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kog-, *keg-, *keng- (“peg, hook, claw”). Cognates Cognate with Scots huke, huik (“hook”), West Frisian and Dutch hoek (“hook, angle, corner”), Low German Hook, Huuk, German Hook (“small cluster of farms”), Faroese høkja (“crutch”), Icelandic hækja (“crutch”), Norn hek (“crutch”), Finnish kuokka (“hoe, mattock”). Related to hake.

This word in other languages

Spanish(Español)Portuguese(Português)French(Français)German(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: hhook,hok,hoko,hookk,ohok

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for hook

Misspelling Variants of "hook"

hhook5hok3hoko4hookk5ohok4
Misspelling Variants of "hook"

Frequency rank: #3,816 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "hook"?
"hook" is spelled H-O-O-K. The IPA pronunciation is /hʊk/.
What does "hook" mean?
As a noun, "hook" means: A rod bent into a curved shape, typically with one end free and the other end secured to a rope or other attachment.
What words are commonly confused with "hook"?
"hook" is commonly confused with "how", "hot", "hop". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "hook"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hook" is /hʊk/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "hook"?
From Middle English hoke, from Old English hōc (“angle, point, hook”), from Proto-West Germanic *hōk, from Proto-Germanic *hōkaz, variant of *hakô (“hook”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kog-, *keg-, *keng- (“peg, hook, claw”). Cog... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter H in our English index:

All "H" wordsABCDEFGHIJKL

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.