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PlainSpell

look

/lʊk/verb, interjection, noun

look is spelled L-O-O-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 646 times per million words in written English, the 152nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, look means “As an intransitive verb, often with “at”” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in look?

Letters4: L-O-O-K
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing646 times per million words; the 152nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
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 look?

Look appears 646 times per million words in written English, the 152nd 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 look?

  • /lʊk/
  • British [lɵk]
  • /luːk/

Look 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-look.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with look

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

look vs luck0 B

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with look?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as look.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: kool, kolo.

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 look

  • looks present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • looking participle, present
  • looked participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural

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

What does look mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    As an intransitive verb, often with “at”.

    They kept looking at me.

  2. 2

    colloquialAs a transitive verb, often in the imperative; chiefly takes relative clause as direct object.

    Look what you did to him!

  3. 3

    To appear, to seem.

    It looks as if it’s going to rain soon. or It looks like it’s going to rain soon. or It looks like rain [is coming].

  4. 4

    To give an appearance of being.

    What a fright you looked in that hideous outfit.

  5. 5

    To search for, to try to find.

  6. 6

    To face or present a view.

    The hotel looks over the valleys of the Hindu Kush.

  7. 7

    To expect or anticipate.

    I look to each hour for my lover’s arrival.

  8. 8

    To express or manifest by a look.

interjection

  1. 1

    Pay attention.

    Look, I'm going to explain what to do, so you have to listen closely.

noun

  1. 1

    The action of looking; an attempt to see.

    Let’s have a look under the hood of the car.

  2. 2

    Physical appearance, visual impression.

    She got her mother’s looks.

  3. 3

    A facial expression.

    He gave me a dirty look.

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

Look in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchregarder (to try to see), sembler, paraître, avoir l'air (to appear, to seem – see also seem, look like), donner sur (to face), écoute (interjection to attract attention)
Germansehen, schauen, blicken, hinschauen, hinsehen, gucken (to try to see)
Portugueseolhar (to try to see), parecer (to appear, to seem – see also seem, look like), resguardar (to face), estar (give an appearance of being), esperar (to expect – see also expect), olhada (1. action of looking)
Spanishmirar, ojear, catar, lentear, lookear (to try to see), lucir (to appear, to seem – see also seem, look like)

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 look come from?

From Middle English loken, lokien, from Old English lōcian, from Proto-West Germanic *lōkōn. Further origin unknown, no certain cognates outside Germanic. Cognate with Scots luke, luik, leuk (“to look, see”), West Frisian lôkje, loaitsje (“to look”), Dutch loeken (“to look”), German Low German löken. Likely also related to German lugen (“to peek”), Alemannic German luege (“to look”), Yiddish לוגן (lugn).

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

What to look up after look