knead
/niːd/verb, noun
knead is spelled K-N-E-A-D: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 48,775th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, knead means “To work and press into a mass, usually with the hands; especially, to work, as by repeated pressure with the knuckles, into a well mixed mass, the…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in knead?
| Letters | 5: K-N-E-A-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 48,775th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is knead?
Knead appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 48,775th 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 knead?
- US /niːd/
- /knɛːd/
Knead 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: En-us-knead.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with knead
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: kneed, need (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with knead?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as knead from its last stressed vowel (/id/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: naked.
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 knead
- kneads present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- kneading participle, present
- kneaded past, participle
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does knead mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To work and press into a mass, usually with the hands; especially, to work, as by repeated pressure with the knuckles, into a well mixed mass, the materials of bread, cake, etc.
- 2
To treat or form as if by kneading; to beat.
- 3
Of cats, to make an alternating pressing motion with the two front paws.
- 4
To mix thoroughly; form into a homogeneous compound.
noun
- 1
The act of kneading something.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Knead in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | pétrir , tricoter, patouner |
| German | kneten |
| Portuguese | amassar, sovar |
| Spanish | amasar, mullir, malaxar, heñir, hiñir |
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 knead come from?
From Middle English kneden, from Old English cnedan, from Proto-West Germanic *knedan, from Proto-Germanic *knudaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gnet- (“to press together”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).