Creek and creak are two different words that are pronounced in the same way but are spelled differently and have different meanings, which makes them homophones. We will examine the definitions of creek and creak, where these words came from and some examples of their use in sentences.
A creek is a minor tributary, a small inlet that is narrow and sheltered. A creek is much smaller than a river. The word creek is most probably derived from the Old Norse word kriki which means nook or corner. When capitalized, Creek refers to a Native American tribe that was indigenous to the Southeast and whose descendants now mainly live in Oklahoma.
A creak a squeaky or scraping sound. The word creak may be used as a noun or an intransitive verb, which is a verb that does not take an object. Related words are creaks, creaked, creaking. The word creak is an Old English word, imitative of the sound that it is trying to describe. Such an imitative word is referred to as an onomatopoeia.
Examples
Thatâs when the man found the woman fully clothed and face down in the creek, which is about 3 feet deep, police said. (The Atlanta Journal Constitution)
Officials in Clive had grown concerned about increasing numbers of people jumping into Walnut Creek from an old railroad bridge along the Clive Greenbelt Trail. (U.S. News & World Report)
That time of year has come round again where Premier League owners creak open the cheque books and agents start pimping their products around. (The Mirror)
If your knees creak and pop, the noises could be an indicator of early arthritis, even if the joint does not hurt, according to one of the first long-term studies of the association between noisy knees and joint disease. (The Daily Star)
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