cook and cooke are homophones: they are pronounced identically and spelled differently, which is why they are so often swapped. cook means “prepare a hot meal”. cooke means “United States journalist (born in England in 1908)”. cook is the more common of the two in everyday English.
/ˈkʊk/
1.v.prepare a hot meal
“My husband doesn't cook”
2.v.prepare for eating by applying heat
“Cook me dinner, please”
3.v.transform and make suitable for consumption by heating
“These potatoes have to cook for 20 minutes”
/ˈkʊk/
1.n.United States journalist (born in England in 1908)
2.n.United States financier who marketed Union bonds to finance the American Civil War; the failure of his bank resulted in a financial panic in 1873 (1821-1905)
| cook | cooke | |
|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation | /ˈkʊk/ | /ˈkʊk/ |
| Said | kuuk | kuuk |
| Syllables | 1 | 1 |
| Letters | 4 | 5 |
| Parts of speech | verb, noun | noun |
| Senses | 7 | 2 |
| How common | Core | Familiar |
| Synonyms | none recorded | Alistair Cooke, Alfred Alistair Cooke |
Full entry for cook · Full entry for cooke · More comparisons