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'Creek' is a small stream or inlet; 'creak' is a sharp squeaking sound, or to make such a sound.
Side-by-side comparison
"Creek" is a small stream or brook. "Up the creek" = in trouble (informal expression).
They followed the creek upstream until they found a good spot to fish.
Without that contract, the company is really up the creek.
The children built a dam across the creek using stones and mud from the bank.
"Creak" is the squeaking or creaking sound something makes when it moves: a door, a wooden floor, an old chair. Also the verb to make that sound.
The old floorboards creaked loudly underfoot as she crossed the empty hall.
She heard a creak from the attic and wondered if the house was settling.
The door creaked open slowly, revealing no one on the other side.
Common mistake
- •"The stair made a loud creek" when meaning the squeaking sound is wrong: the noise is "creak".
- •"She fished in the creak" when meaning the stream is also wrong: the small waterway is "creek".
Trick to remember it
- •"Creek" has EEK like the startled exclamation, something in the water.
- •"Creak" has EAK like "squeak" and "peak", sounds and tensions.
- •Creek = water; creak = sound.
Quick rule
- •Is it the small stream or inlet? "Creek".
- •Is it the squeaking sound or the verb to squeak? "Creak".
Did you know?
"Up the creek without a paddle" (in serious trouble with no solution) has obvious nautical origins, if you are in a boat on a creek with no way to propel yourself, you are truly stuck. That is why old wooden houses "speak" so much more than modern concrete ones.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
The floorboards _____ ed loudly when she walked across the room at night.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
The children played in the shallow _____ behind their house all afternoon.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
One means to receive or agree to something, the other means to exclude or not include.
'Advice' is the guidance you receive (noun); 'advise' is the act of giving that guidance (verb).
'Affect' is the verb meaning to influence something; 'effect' is the noun meaning result or consequence.
'Aisle' is the walkway between rows of seats or shelves; 'isle' is a small island.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy