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PlainSpell

strike

/stɹaɪk/verb, noun

strike is spelled S-T-R-I-K-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 46 times per million words in written English, the 2,204th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, strike means “To delete or cross out; to scratch or eliminate” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in strike?

Letters6: S-T-R-I-K-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing46 times per million words; the 2,204th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
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 strike?

Strike appears 46 times per million words in written English, the 2,204th 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 strike?

  • US /stɹaɪk/
  • /stiː.ɹaɪk/
  • [stiː.ɹ̠ʌɪ̯k(ʰ)]

Strike 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-us-strike.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-strike.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with strike?

5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as strike from its last stressed vowel (/aɪk/):

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 strike

  • strikes present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • striking participle, present
  • struck past

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

What does strike mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To delete or cross out; to scratch or eliminate.

    Please strike the last sentence.

  2. 2

    To hit.

    Strike the door sharply with your foot and see if it comes loose.  A bullet struck him.  The ship struck a reef.

  3. 3

    To give, as a blow; to impel, as with a blow; to give a force to; to dash; to cast.

  4. 4

    To deliver a quick blow or thrust; to give blows.

    A hammer strikes against the bell of a clock.

  5. 5

    To manufacture, as by stamping.

    We will strike a medal in your honour.

  6. 6

    datedTo run upon a rock or bank; to be stranded; to run aground.

    The ship struck in the night.

  7. 7

    To cause to sound by one or more beats; to indicate or notify by audible strokes. Of a clock, to announce (an hour of the day), usually by one or more sounds.

    The clock struck twelve.  The drums strike up a march.

  8. 8

    To sound by percussion, with blows, or as if with blows.

noun

  1. 1

    A status resulting from a batter swinging and missing a pitch, or not swinging at a pitch when the ball goes in the strike zone, or hitting a foul ball that is not caught.

  2. 2

    The act of knocking down all ten pins on the first roll of a frame.

  3. 3

    A work stoppage (or otherwise concerted stoppage of an activity) as a form of protest.

    After an eleven-week strike, it was management that finally blinked.

  4. 4

    A blow or application of physical force against something.

  5. 5

    An attack, not necessarily physical.

    air strike; first strike

  6. 6

    In an option contract, the price at which the holder buys or sells if they choose to exercise the option.

  7. 7

    An old English measure of corn equal to the bushel.

  8. 8

    The status of being the batsman that the bowler is bowling at.

    The batsmen have crossed, and Dhoni now has the strike.

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

Strike in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbiffer, rayer, barrer (to delete), frapper, battre (to hit), strike (in bowling)
Germanstreichen (to delete), schlagen (to hit), prägen (to manufacture by stamping), streiken (to stop working as a form of protest), scheinen (to impress, seem, appear), die Fahne streichen (nautical: to surrender)
Portugueseeliminar, deletar, excluir (to delete), acertar, golpear (to hit), fazer greve (to stop working as a form of protest)
Spanishtachar, borrar (to delete), golpear, pegar, asestar, propinar (to hit)

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 strike come from?

From Middle English stryken, from Old English strīcan, from Proto-West Germanic *strīkan, from Proto-Germanic *strīkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“to stroke, rub, press”).

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

What to look up after strike