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PlainSpell

soak

/soʊk/verb, noun

soak is spelled S-O-A-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.1 times per million words in written English, the 12,764th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, soak means “To be saturated with liquid by being immersed in it” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in soak?

Letters4: S-O-A-K
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing4.1 times per million words; the 12,764th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
Rhymes with

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is soak?

Soak appears 4.1 times per million words in written English, the 12,764th 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 soak?

  • UK /səʊk/
  • US /soʊk/

Soak 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: En-au-soak.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with soak

Sounds like: soke (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with soak?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as soak from its last stressed vowel (/oʊk/):

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 soak

  • soaks present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • soaking participle, present
  • soaked participle, past

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

What does soak mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To be saturated with liquid by being immersed in it.

    I'm going to soak in the bath for a couple of hours.

  2. 2

    To immerse in liquid to the point of saturation or thorough permeation.

    Soak the beans overnight before cooking.

  3. 3

    To penetrate or permeate by saturation.

    The water soaked into my shoes and gave me wet feet.

  4. 4

    To allow (especially a liquid) to be absorbed; to take in, receive. (usually + up)

    A sponge soaks up water; the skin soaks in moisture.

  5. 5

    To overcharge or swindle out of a large amount of money.

  6. 6

    datedslangTo drink intemperately or gluttonously.

  7. 7

    To heat (a metal) before shaping it.

  8. 8

    To hold a kiln at a particular temperature for a given period of time.

    We should soak the kiln at cone 9 for half an hour.

  9. 9

    (slang, boxing) To hit or strike.

noun

  1. 1

    An immersion in water etc.

    After the strenuous climb, I had a nice long soak in a bath.

  2. 2

    UKslangA drunkard.

  3. 3

    slangA carouse; a drinking session.

  4. 4

    AustraliaA low-lying depression that fills with water after rain.

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

Soak in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtremper (to be saturated with liquid by being immersed…), faire tremper, immerger (to immerse in liquid to the point of saturation…), éponger (to allow (especially a liquid) to be absorbed)
Germandurchnässen (to be saturated with liquid by being immersed…), tränken, einweichen (to immerse in liquid to the point of saturation…), Einweichen (immersion in a liquid)
Portuguesemolhar-se, ensopar-se, encharcar-se (to be saturated with liquid by being immersed…), molhar, ensopar, encharcar (to immerse in liquid to the point of saturation…)
Spanishempaparse (to be saturated with liquid by being immersed…), empapar, enriar (to immerse in liquid to the point of saturation…), esponjar, embeber (to allow (especially a liquid) to be absorbed)

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 soak come from?

From Middle English soken, from Old English socian (“to soak, steep”, literally “to cause to suck (up)”), from Proto-Germanic *sukōną (“to soak”), causative of Proto-Germanic *sūkaną (“to suck”). Cognate with Middle Dutch soken (“to cause to suck”). More at suck.

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

What to look up after soak