bake
7 synonyms for bake, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Verb — To cook food using dry heat in an oven.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
oven-cook
broil
How to use bake
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
bake a cake
bake bread
bake in the sun
Etymology
From Old English bacan ("to bake"), from a Proto-Germanic root shared with Dutch bakken and German backen.
Full origin of bake →Frequently asked questions
What does “bake” mean?
The word “bake” means to cook food using dry heat in an oven. In plain terms, to cook something in an oven using dry heat, or more broadly, to harden or dry something with heat.
How do you pronounce “bake”?
“Bake” is pronounced bayk (/beɪk/ in IPA).
How do you use “bake” in a sentence?
Here is “bake” used in a sentence: “She baked a batch of cookies for the school fair.”
What part of speech is “bake”?
Depending on how it is used, “bake” can be a verb and a noun.
Where does the word “bake” come from?
The word “bake” comes from Old English. From Old English bacan ("to bake"), from a Proto-Germanic root shared with Dutch bakken and German backen.
Is “bake” a common word?
“Bake” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A2 level.
How many meanings does “bake” have?
“Bake” has 3 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: to cook food using dry heat in an oven.
What is the difference between baking and roasting?
Both use dry heat in an oven, but roasting usually means higher temperatures for foods like meat and vegetables. Baking more often refers to items such as bread, cakes, and casseroles cooked at moderate heat.
What is the difference between baking and broiling?
Baking surrounds food with dry heat from all around. Broiling cooks with intense, direct heat from above, browning the surface quickly.
What is a "bake" when used as a noun?
As a noun, a bake can be a social event where food is baked or served, such as a clam bake, or the baked dish itself.
