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PlainSpell

tack

/tæk/noun, verb

tack is spelled T-A-C-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 17,813th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “tac vs tack” about 40 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, tack means “A small nail with a flat head” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tack is tacks.

How many letters and syllables are in tack?

Letters4: T-A-C-K
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.3 times per million words; the 17,813th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people 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); 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 tack?

Tack appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 17,813th 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 tack?

  • US /tæk/

Tack 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-tack.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with tack

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

tac vs tack40 G

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

What rhymes with tack?

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

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 tack

  • tacks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • tache
  • tacking participle, present
  • tacked participle, past

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

What does tack mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A small nail with a flat head.

  2. 2

    A thumbtack.

  3. 3

    A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth.

  4. 4

    The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind.

  5. 5

    A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind.

  6. 6

    A direction or course of action, especially a new one; a method or approach to solving a problem.

  7. 7

    The maneuver by which a sailing vessel turns its bow through the wind so that the wind changes from one side to the other.

  8. 8

    The distance a sailing vessel runs between these maneuvers when working to windward; a board.

  9. 9

    A stain; a tache.

  10. 10

    obsoleteA peculiar flavour or taint.

    a musty tack

  11. 11

    colloquialThat which is tacky; something cheap and gaudy.

  12. 12

    ScotlandA contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease.

verb

  1. 1

    To nail (something) with a tack (small nail with a flat head).

  2. 2

    To sew/stitch with a tack (loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth).

  3. 3

    To weld with initial small welds to temporarily fasten in preparation for full welding.

  4. 4

    To maneuver a sailing vessel so that its bow turns through the wind, i.e. the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other.

  5. 5

    To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.

  6. 6

    To add something as an extra item.

    to tack (something) onto (something)

  7. 7

    Synonym of tack up (“to prepare a horse for riding by equipping it with a tack”).

  8. 8

    obsoleteslangTo join in wedlock.

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

Tack in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpetit clou, clou semence (small nail), cap (course of action), virement lof pour lof (nautical: maneuver), écoute (nautical: rope used to hold in place the…), harnais (any equipment worn by horse)
GermanStoßnadel, Pinnnadel, Pinne, Reißzwecke (small nail), Heftnaht (loose seam), Hals (nautical: lower corner of the leading edge of a…)
Spanishtachuela, mostacilla (small nail), curso de acción (course of action), hilván (loose seam), rumbo, curso (nautical: course or heading)

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 tack come from?

From Middle English tak, takke (“hook; staple; nail”), from Old Northern French taque (“nail, pin, peg”), from Frankish *takkō (“twig, branch, shoot”), of unknown origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dHgʰ-n-, from the root *déHgʰ- (“to pinch; to tear, rip, fray”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Takke (“bough; branch; twig”), West Frisian takke (“branch”), tûk (“branch, smart, sharp”), Dutch tak (“twig; branch; limb”), German Zacke (“jag; prong; spike; tooth; peak”).

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

What to look up after tack