Look out or lookout?
look out is a verb meaning “To be vigilant and aware often as an imperative to alert a person to danger”; lookout is a noun meaning “A vantage point with a view of the surrounding area”. Use look out as a verb and lookout as a noun. look out is written as two words and lookout as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between look out and lookout?
| look out | lookout | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | noun |
| Meaning | To be vigilant and aware often as an imperative to alert a person to danger To find by looking: to hunt out | A vantage point with a view of the surrounding area A session of watching for an approaching enemy, police, etc |
| Example | While you're in the city center, look out for the dodgy street vendors | We kept a lookout all night, but nobody came |
| Forms | none | lookouts |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˈlʊkaʊt/ /ˈlɵkawt/ /ˈlʊkæɔt/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 4.1 times per million words |
Sources: look out and lookout 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 look out and lookout
look out
- 1
To be vigilant and aware often as an imperative to alert a person to danger
While you're in the city center, look out for the dodgy street vendors
- 2
Alternative spelling of lookout
- 3
To find by looking: to hunt out
- 4
To be facing
A spacious room that looks out on the sea
- 5
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see look, out
- 6
informalEllipsis of look out for (someone)
Hey man, I know it costs four dollars but I only have three. Can you please look out?
lookout
- 1
A vantage point with a view of the surrounding area
- 2
A session of watching for an approaching enemy, police, etc
We kept a lookout all night, but nobody came
- 3
A person on watch for approaching enemy, police, danger, etc
The raid failed when the lookout noticed the enemy group
- 4
A subject for observation; a prospect or view
- 5
One's perspective, outlook; hence, one's responsibility. (used with a possessive pronoun or a noun in a possessive form)
Every person's interest is his own lookout
- 6
An observation window
- 7
A joist that extends in cantilever out from the exterior wall (or wall plate) of a building, supporting the roof sheathing and providing a nailing surface for the fascia boards
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, look out or lookout?
look out is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; lookout 4.1 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search look out vs lookout?
“look out vs lookout” is searched about 260 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“lookout vs look out”, “look out or lookout”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.