licked

/lɪkt/

//lɪkt// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"licked" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“licked” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #20,692. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#20,692
frequency rank, English
2,297
“L” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Having been the target of a lick; touched by a tongue.

Corpus desk

Index EN-licked · licked · English

licked · rank #20,692 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #20,692
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,297
  • PHOTO-FINISH Lillian

Nearest frequency peer: Lillian (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “licked”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “licked” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

licked vs like
67% similar
licked vs lied
67% similar
licked vs lived
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for licked
PropertyValue
Headwordlicked
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/lɪkt/
Letters6
Frequency rank#20,692
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “licked”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).lickedlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “Lillian” (#20,693), “Libby” (#20,690), “liquidation” (#20,694). Among 2,297 “L” headwords, “licked” is #20,692. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around licked (IPA /lɪkt/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #20,692 among 2,297 “L” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for licked, with forms such as "ilcked", "lciked", and "liccked". 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, "like", "lied", "lived", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is licked, spelled L-I-C-K-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Having been the target of a lick; touched by a tongue.
  2. 2
    Utterly beaten.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how licked appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. But the mineral-rich blood is what gives the stew its ballast and faintly metallic hint of a licked knife.
  2. The CDC estimates that one in six Americans gets a foodborne disease every year. And you know what? I'm probably two or three of them. I can't remember a time in my life before I licked the beaters clean. Tempting a stomachache for the sweet, gritty satisfaction of a licked beater has always been a game of roulette that I'm willing to play.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ilcked
  • lciked
  • liccked
  • licekd
  • lickde
  • lickedd
  • lickked
  • likced
  • llicked

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of licked - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ilcked2lciked2liccked1licekd2lickde2lickedd1lickked1likced2
Edit distance from "licked"

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

How do you spell "licked"?
"licked" is spelled L-I-C-K-E-D. The IPA pronunciation is /lɪkt/.
What does "licked" mean?
As an adjective, "licked" means: Having been the target of a lick; touched by a tongue.
What words are commonly confused with "licked"?
"licked" is commonly confused with "like", "lied", "lived". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "licked"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "licked" is /lɪkt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "licked" come from?
"licked" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "licked", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

kosher#20,685McGill#20,703kinase#20,680Keynes#20,678

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

morbid9 variantsHaskell9 variantshamper9 variantspacker9 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list