streak
/stɹiːk/
"streak" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“streak” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,525 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #6,525
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An irregular line left from smearing or motion.
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 | streak |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /stɹiːk/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #6,525 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “streak” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for streak is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /stɹiːk/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,525 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for streak, with forms such as "srteak", "sstreak", and "sterak". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "strep", "street", "stress", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English streke, from Old English strica, from Proto-Germanic *strikiz, from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“line”). Related to North Frisian strijck, Old Saxon striki, Middle Low German streke, Low German streek, Danish streg, Swedish streck, Nor… The correct English form is streak, spelled S-T-R-E-A-K.
Definition
- 1An irregular line left from smearing or motion.
- 2A continuous series of like events.
- 3A continuous series of like events.
- 4A consistent facet of somebody's personality.
- 5The color of the powder of a mineral. So called, because a simple field test for a mineral is to streak it against unglazed white porcelain.
- 6A moth of the family Geometridae, Chesias legatella.
- 7A tendency or characteristic, but not a dominant or pervasive one.
- 8A strake.
- 9A rung or round of a ladder.
- 10The act of streaking, or running naked through a public area.
Etymology
From Middle English streke, from Old English strica, from Proto-Germanic *strikiz, from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“line”). Related to North Frisian strijck, Old Saxon striki, Middle Low German streke, Low German streek, Danish streg, Swedish streck, Norwegian Bokmål strek, Icelandic stryk, strykr, Dutch streek, Afrikaans streek, Old High German strih, German Strich, Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌺𐍃 (striks).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: srteak,sstreak,sterak,straek,streakk,streka,strreak,sttreak,tsreak
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of streak - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “streak”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-R-E-A-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /stɹiːk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “strep” - see the side-by-side comparison. streak vs strep
- 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.