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PlainSpell

skate

/skeɪt/noun, verb, adjective

skate is spelled S-K-A-T-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 5.5 times per million words in written English, the 10,519th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, skate means “A runner or blade, usually of steel, with a frame shaped to fit the sole of a shoe, made to be fastened under the foot, and used for gliding on ice” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of skate is skates.

How many letters and syllables are in skate?

Letters5: S-K-A-T-E
Syllables1
In writing5.5 times per million words; the 10,519th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is skate?

Skate appears 5.5 times per million words in written English, the 10,519th 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 skate?

  • /skeɪt/

Skate has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-skate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with skate?

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

Spelled with the same letters in another order: stake, steak.

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 skate

  • skates plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • skating participle, present
  • skated participle, past

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

What does skate mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A runner or blade, usually of steel, with a frame shaped to fit the sole of a shoe, made to be fastened under the foot, and used for gliding on ice.

  2. 2

    Ellipsis of ice skate.

  3. 3

    Ellipsis of roller skate.

  4. 4

    The act of skateboarding

    There's time for a quick skate before dinner.

  5. 5

    The act of roller skating or ice skating

    The boys had a skate every morning when the lake was frozen.

  6. 6

    A makeshift handcar.

  7. 7

    A fish of the family Rajidae in the superorder Batoidea (rays) which inhabit most seas. Skates generally have small heads with protruding muzzles, and wide fins attached to a flat body.

  8. 8

    A worn-out horse, a nag, a jade.

  9. 9

    Alternative form of skite (“a mean or contemptible person”).

verb

  1. 1

    To move along a surface (ice or ground) using skates.

  2. 2

    To skateboard.

  3. 3

    To use the skating technique.

  4. 4

    slangTo get away with something; to be acquitted of a crime for which one is manifestly guilty.

  5. 5

    To move smoothly and easily.

adjective

  1. 1

    Pertaining to the technique of skating.

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

Skate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Portuguesepatim (runner), skate (ice skate or roller skate), patinada (act of skating or ice skating), patinar (to move along a surface (ice or ground) using…), andar de skate (to skateboard), arraia (fish of family Rajidae)
Frenchpatin (ice skate or roller skate), patinage (act of skating or ice skating), glisser, patiner (to move along a surface (ice or ground) using…)
GermanSchlittschuh, Rollschuh (ice skate or roller skate), Schlittschuhlaufen, Eislaufen (act of skating or ice skating), Skateboardfahren, Skateboarden (act of skateboarding)
Spanishpatín (ice skate or roller skate), patinaje (act of skating or ice skating), patinar (to move along a surface (ice or ground) using…), andar en skate (to skateboard)

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 skate come from?

Back-formation from Dutch schaats, from Middle Dutch schāetse, from Old Northern French escache (“a stilt, trestle”) (compare French échasse and English scatch), from a Germanic language, perhaps Frankish *skakkjā (“stilt”, literally “thing that moves”), related to *skakan (“to shake, swing”).

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

What to look up after skate