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PlainSpell

wreck

/ˈɹɛk/noun, verb

wreck is spelled W-R-E-C-K: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 9.1 times per million words in written English, the 7,553rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “reck vs wreck” about 90 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, wreck means “Something or someone that has been ruined” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of wreck is wrecks.

How many letters and syllables are in wreck?

Letters5: W-R-E-C-K
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing9.1 times per million words; the 7,553rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search

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).

How common is wreck?

Wreck appears 9.1 times per million words in written English, the 7,553rd 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 wreck?

  • /ˈɹɛk/
  • /ˈɹæk/

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

Words people confuse with wreck

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

reck vs wreck90 G

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

Forms of wreck

  • wrecks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • wrecking participle, present
  • wrecked participle, past

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

What does wreck mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    Something or someone that has been ruined.

    He was an emotional wreck after the death of his wife.

  2. 2

    The remains of something that has been severely damaged or worn down.

  3. 3

    An event in which something is damaged through collision.

  4. 4

    A shipwreck: an event in which a ship is heavily damaged or destroyed.

  5. 5

    Goods, etc. cast ashore by the sea after a shipwreck.

  6. 6

    A large number of birds that have been brought to the ground, injured or dead, by extremely adverse weather.

verb

  1. 1

    To destroy violently; to cause severe damage to something, to a point where it no longer works, or is useless.

    He wrecked the car in a collision.

  2. 2

    To ruin or dilapidate.

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo plunder goods from wrecked ships.

  4. 4

    AustraliaTo dismantle wrecked vehicles or other objects, to reclaim any useful parts.

  5. 5

    To involve in a wreck; hence, to cause to suffer ruin; to balk of success, and bring disaster on.

  6. 6

    To be involved in a wreck; to be damaged or destroyed.

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

Wreck in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchépave (ruined object or person), carcasse (remains), accident (collision), bousiller, ruiner (to cause severe damage)
GermanWrack, Schrott, Schrotthaufen, Schrottkiste (ruined object or person), Zusammenstoß (collision)
Spanishcacharro, trasto, guiñapo (ruined object or person), choque, desastre, accidente (collision)
Portuguesedestroço (remains), choque (collision), estragar (to ruin)

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 wreck come from?

From Middle English wrek, from Anglo-Norman wrek, from Old Norse *wrek (whence Norwegian rek, Icelandic rek, Swedish vrak, Danish vrag), from Proto-Germanic *wrekaną (“to pursue”, whence Old English wrecan (English wreak), Old Saxon wrekan, Old High German rëhhan, Gothic 𐍅𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (wrikan)), from Proto-Indo-European *wreg- (“to track; to hunt; to follow”).

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

What to look up after wreck