tuck
/tʌk/
"tuck" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tuck” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #14,039 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #14,039
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To pull or gather up (an item of fabric).
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 | tuck |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /tʌk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #14,039 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tuck” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for tuck is 4 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /tʌk/. Corpus data places it at rank #14,039 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for tuck, with forms such as "tcuk", "ttuck", and "tucck". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "tug", "Tue", "tum", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English tuken, touken (“to torment, to stretch (cloth)”), from Old English tūcian (“to torment, vex”) and Middle Dutch tucken (“to tuck”), both from Proto-Germanic *teuh-, *teug- (“to draw, pull”) (compare also *tukkōną), from Proto-Indo-Europea… The correct English form is tuck, spelled T-U-C-K.
Definition
- 1To pull or gather up (an item of fabric).
- 2To push into a snug position; to place somewhere safe, or handy, or somewhat hidden.
- 3To eat; to consume.
- 4To fit neatly.
- 5To curl into a ball; to fold up and hold one's legs.
- 6To sew folds; to make a tuck or tucks in.
- 7To full, as cloth.
- 8Of a drag queen, trans woman, etc., to conceal one's penis and testicles, as with a gaff or by fastening them down with adhesive tape.
- 9To keep the thumb in position while moving the rest of the hand over it to continue playing piano keys that are outside the thumb (when playing scales).
- 10Ellipsis of Mach tuck.
Etymology
From Middle English tuken, touken (“to torment, to stretch (cloth)”), from Old English tūcian (“to torment, vex”) and Middle Dutch tucken (“to tuck”), both from Proto-Germanic *teuh-, *teug- (“to draw, pull”) (compare also *tukkōną), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to pull”). Akin to Old High German zucchen (“to snatch, tug”), zuchôn (“to jerk”), German Low German tuken (“to tug, pluck, grab and pull towards”), Old English tēon (“to draw, pull, train”). Doublet of touch.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: tcuk,ttuck,tucck,tuckk,tukc,utck
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tuck - 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
How do you spell "tuck"?
What does "tuck" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "tuck"?
How do you pronounce "tuck"?
What is the origin of the word "tuck"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “tuck”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-U-C-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /tʌk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “tug” - see the side-by-side comparison. tuck vs tug
- 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.