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PlainSpell

reek

/riːk/noun, verb

reek is spelled R-E-E-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “reek vs wreak” about 140 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, reek means “A strong unpleasant smell” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of reek is reeks.

How many letters and syllables are in reek?

Letters4: R-E-E-K
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 38,863rd 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 reek?

Reek appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd 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 reek?

  • /riːk/

Reek 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)-Mélange_a_trois-reek.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with reek

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

reek vs wreak140 G

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

What rhymes with reek?

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

Spelled with the same letters in another order: kere, eker.

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 reek

  • reeks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • reeking participle, present
  • reeked participle, past

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

What does reek mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A strong unpleasant smell.

  2. 2

    ScotlandVapour; steam; smoke; fume.

  3. 3

    A pile, a heap (as of snow, hay, etc).

  4. 4

    IrelandA hill; a mountain.

verb

  1. 1

    To have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell.

    You reek of perfume.

  2. 2

    To be evidently associated with something unpleasant.

    The boss appointing his nephew as a director reeks of nepotism.

  3. 3

    archaicTo be emitted or exhaled, emanate, as of vapour or perfume.

  4. 4

    archaicTo emit smoke or vapour; to steam.

  5. 5

    rareTo cause (something) to smell.

  6. 6

    archaicTo fall in such a way (e.g. particularly finely or heavily) as to resemble smoke.

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

Reek in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpuanteur (unpleasant smell), empester, puer, fouetter, schlinguer (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell)
GermanGestank (unpleasant smell), stinken (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell), Dampf (vapor)
Portuguesefedor, catinga (unpleasant smell), feder (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell), vapor (vapor), cheirar (to be evidently associated with something…)
Spanishhedor, fetidez, peste, tufo (unpleasant smell), vapor, vaho (vapor)

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 reek come from?

From Middle English rek, reke (“smoke”), from Old English rēc, from Proto-West Germanic *rauki, from Proto-Germanic *raukiz, from Proto-Indo-European *rowgi-.

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

What to look up after reek