rake
/ɹeɪk/
"rake" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rake” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #17,699 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #17,699
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A garden tool with a row of pointed teeth fixed to a long handle, used for collecting debris, grass, etc., for flattening the ground, or for loosening soil; also, a similar wheel-mounted tool drawn...
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | rake |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɹeɪk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #17,699 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “rake” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for rake is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɹeɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #17,699 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for rake, with forms such as "arke", "raek", and "rakke". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "re", "ran", "ray", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English rake [and other forms], from Old English raca, racu, ræce (“tool with a row of pointed teeth, rake”), from Proto-Germanic *rakō, *rekô (“tool with a row of pointed teeth, rake”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten, right on… The correct English form is rake, spelled R-A-K-E.
Definition
- 1A garden tool with a row of pointed teeth fixed to a long handle, used for collecting debris, grass, etc., for flattening the ground, or for loosening soil; also, a similar wheel-mounted tool drawn by a horse or a tractor.
- 2A similarly shaped tool used for other purposes.
- 3A similarly shaped tool used for other purposes.
- 4A type of puffer train that leaves behind a stream of spaceships as it moves.
Etymology
From Middle English rake [and other forms], from Old English raca, racu, ræce (“tool with a row of pointed teeth, rake”), from Proto-Germanic *rakō, *rekô (“tool with a row of pointed teeth, rake”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten, right oneself”). Cognates The English word is cognate with Danish rage (chiefly regional), Middle Dutch rāke, rēke (modern Dutch raak, reek (both regional), riek (“pitchfork, rake”)), Middle Low German rāke, racke (modern German Low German Raak (“rake; poker”)), Old High German rehho, rech (Middle High German reche, modern German Rechen (“rake”)), Old Norse reka (“shovel”) (modern Icelandic reka (“shovel”)), Old Saxon recho, Old Swedish raka (modern Swedish raka (“rake; (long) straight section of a road”)).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: arke,raek,rakke,rkae,rrake
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of rake - 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.
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
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Using “rake”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-A-K-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɹeɪk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “re” - see the side-by-side comparison. rake vs re
- 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.