Synonyms of creek

creek

noun

ˈkrēk 

1

as in brook

a natural body of running water smaller than a river

the shallow creek that runs in back of our house

Synonyms & Similar Words

• brook
• stream
• canal
• rivulet
• tributary
• bayou
• rill
• streamlet
• brooklet
• runnel
• beck
• runoff
• burn
• gill
• bourn
• arroyo
• waterway
• coulee
• run
• freshet
• fresh
• channel
• slough
• wash
• watercourse
• runlet
• billabong
• race
• millrace
• cutoff
• branch
• millstream
• distributary
• affluent
• kill
• influent
• confluent
• cut
• gut

2

as in estuary

chiefly British a part of a body of water that extends beyond the general shoreline

explored many of the creeks along the Cornwall coast of England

Synonyms & Similar Words

• estuary
• bay
• cove
• loch
• firth
• inlet
• gulf
• fjord
• embayment
• bayou
• port
• bight
• arm
• harbor
• sound
• strait
• road(s)
• narrow
• roadstead
• slough
• backwater

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of creek

Bryan Watts has spent more than three decades watching ospreys reclaim the Chesapeake Bay, returning each spring from South America to crowd its tidal rivers and creeks, shorelines, channel markers and nesting platforms. — Mark Robichaux, Washington Post, 27 Sep. 2026

The hardwoods are only 40 yards wide and connect a swamp and a creek. — Bob McNally, Outdoor Life, 24 Sep. 2026

Months before the cancer diagnoses became a public issue, Creek Team OC, a small grassroots organization, was already campaigning against herbicide spraying in local waterways, arguing chemicals were harming creek ecosystems. — Julia Vargas Jones, CNN Money, 20 Sep. 2026

It is fed by a spring, stocked with bass and bluegill, and connected to a creek. — David Caraccio, Sacbee.com, 5 Sep. 2026