piece of cake
/ˈpiːsə(v)ˈkeɪk/
"piece-of-cake" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“piece of cake” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A job, task or other activity that is pleasant or, by extension, easy or simple.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | piece of cake |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpiːsə(v)ˈkeɪk/ |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “piece of cake” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for piece of cake is 13 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpiːsə(v)ˈkeɪk/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for piece of cake, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Attested since 1936, originally in American English. Possibly from cakewalk, or the notion of facility that derives from many cakes having agreeable tastes, and hence being ‘easy’ to consume. Compare French être du gâteau (literally “to be a cake”), être de… The correct English form is piece of cake, spelled P-I-E-C-E- -O-F- -C-A-K-E.
Definition
- 1A job, task or other activity that is pleasant or, by extension, easy or simple.
- 2Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see piece, cake.
Etymology
Attested since 1936, originally in American English. Possibly from cakewalk, or the notion of facility that derives from many cakes having agreeable tastes, and hence being ‘easy’ to consume. Compare French être du gâteau (literally “to be a cake”), être de la tarte (literally “to be a pie”), both meaning "to be easy, to be a piece of cake".
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “piece of cake”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-I-E-C-E- -O-F- -C-A-K-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpiːsə(v)ˈkeɪk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.