A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet.
https://github.com/davepinch/pinchy.cc/blob/master/content/topics/geology/landforms/creek/en.wikipedia.org.md
In so doing, we may better perceive the form that “reality” assumes when we encounter it in those intermediate dimensions.