creak
/ˈkɹik/
nounverb
Familiar
1.n.a squeaking sound
“the creak of the floorboards gave him away”
2.v.make a high-pitched, screeching noise
“The door creaked when I opened it slowly”
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creak and creek are homophones: they are pronounced identically and spelled differently, which is why they are so often swapped. creak means “a squeaking sound”. creek means “a natural stream of water smaller than a river (and often a tributary of a river)”. creek is the more common of the two in everyday English.
/ˈkɹik/
1.n.a squeaking sound
“the creak of the floorboards gave him away”
2.v.make a high-pitched, screeching noise
“The door creaked when I opened it slowly”
/ˈkɹik/
| creak | creek | |
|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation | /ˈkɹik/ | /ˈkɹik/ |
| Said | kreek | kreek |
| Syllables | 1 | 1 |
| Letters | 5 | 5 |
| Parts of speech | noun, verb | noun |
| Senses | 2 | 2 |
| How common | Familiar | Common |
| Synonyms | creaking | brook |
Full entry for creak · Full entry for creek · More comparisons
1.n.a natural stream of water smaller than a river (and often a tributary of a river)
“the creek dried up every summer”
2.n.any member of the Creek Confederacy (especially the Muskogee) formerly living in Georgia and Alabama but now chiefly in Oklahoma