moke

/məʊk/

//məʊk// noun

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

"moke" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“moke” is uncommon English (frequency #92,889 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#92,889
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A donkey.

Corpus desk

Index EN-moke · moke · English

moke · rank #92,889 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #92,889
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH modernistic

Nearest frequency peer: modernistic (-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.

Long-tail ranks near “moke”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “moke” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for moke
PropertyValue
Headwordmoke
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/məʊk/
Letters4
Frequency rank#92,889
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “moke” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).mokefalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “modernistic” (#92,888), “mommie” (#92,890), “mononucleosis” (#92,891). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “moke” is #92,889. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

moke is uncommon English at frequency #92,889 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /məʊk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 7 senses are on record.

moke doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: Unknown. In the sense of a variety performer, comes from "The Lively Moke" (or "Musical Moke"), an 1860s blackface song, dance and multi-instrumental routine popularized by Johnny Thompson, William J. "Billy" Ashcroft and others. The correct English form is moke, spelled M-O-K-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A donkey.
  2. 2
    The mesh of a net, or of anything resembling a net.
  3. 3
    A black person.
  4. 4
    A performer, such as a minstrel, who plays on several musical instruments.
  5. 5
    A stupid person; a dolt.
  6. 6
    British small utility vehicle (styled "MOKE").
  7. 7
    A mixture of cannabis and tobacco, especially smoked from a bong or water pipe.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. […] We do but as the world does; and a girl in our society accepts the best party which offers itself, just as Miss Chummey, when entreated by two young gentlemen of the order of costermongers, inclines to the one who rides from market on a moke, rather than to the gentleman who sells his greens from a handbasket.
  2. Some five years before, the Colonel Commanding […] had asked them why the three stars should he, a Colonel of the Line, command a dashed nursery for double-dashed bottle-suckers who put on condemned tin spurs and rode qualified mokes at the hiatused heads of forsaken Black Regiments.

Etymology

Unknown. In the sense of a variety performer, comes from "The Lively Moke" (or "Musical Moke"), an 1860s blackface song, dance and multi-instrumental routine popularized by Johnny Thompson, William J. "Billy" Ashcroft and others.

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 "moke"?
"moke" is spelled M-O-K-E. The IPA pronunciation is /məʊk/.
What does "moke" mean?
As a noun, "moke" means: A donkey.
How do you pronounce "moke"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "moke" is /məʊk/. 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 "moke"?
Unknown. In the sense of a variety performer, comes from "The Lively Moke" (or "Musical Moke"), an 1860s blackface song, dance and multi-instrumental routine popularized by Johnny Thompson, William J. "Billy" Ashcroft and others. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 "moke", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

mery#92,868nads#92,912Meka#92,862nows#92,941

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list