Caught or cot?
caught is an adjective meaning “Of the method of being out in which the striker hits the ball and a fielder…”; cot is a noun meaning “A simple bed, especially one for portable or temporary purposes”. Use caught as an adjective and cot as a noun. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) caught is about 49 times as common as cot.
What is the difference between caught and cot?
| caught | cot | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective, verb | noun |
| Meaning | Of the method of being out in which the striker hits the ball and a fielder catches it | CanadaUSA simple bed, especially one for portable or temporary purposes CommonwealthIrelandUKA bed for infants or small children, with high, often slatted, often moveable sides A pen, coop, or similar shelter for small domestic animals, such as sheep or pigeons |
| Example | none recorded | a roller cot (the clothing of a drawing roller in a spinning frame) |
| Forms | none | cots |
| Pronunciation | /kɔːt/ /koːt/ [kʰo̞ːt] | /kɒt/ /kɔt/ /kɑt/ |
| In writing | 79 times per million words | 1.6 times per million words |
Sources: caught and cot in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of caught and cot
caught
- 1
Of the method of being out in which the striker hits the ball and a fielder catches it
cot
- 1
CanadaUSA simple bed, especially one for portable or temporary purposes
- 2
A pen, coop, or similar shelter for small domestic animals, such as sheep or pigeons
- 3
A small, crudely-formed boat
- 4
A cover or sheath; a fingerstall
a roller cot (the clothing of a drawing roller in a spinning frame)
- 5
datedvulva; vagina
- 6
Initialism of chain of thought
- 7
CommonwealthIrelandUKA bed for infants or small children, with high, often slatted, often moveable sides
- 8
A wooden bed frame, slung by its corners from a beam, in which officers slept before the introduction of bunks
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, caught or cot?
caught appears 79 times per million words; cot 1.6 times per million words.
caught 79 times per million wordscot 1.6 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).