shutoutvsstoutWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: shutout is a noun, stout is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“shutout” is a noun and “stout” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,995
“shutout” frequency rank
#16,140
“stout” frequency rank
40135
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shutout stout
Definition Closing and forbidding entry, as a lockout in which management prevents works from working. Large; bulky.

Letter map: shutout vs stout

Shared letters muted; letters that set shutout and stout apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. shutout runs 7 letters (CCVCVVC) against stout's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
shutout
5 ch
stout

Role in the sentence - shutout and stout

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: shutout is anoun and stoutanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40135, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

shutout is recorded at frequency rank #23,995, classified as anoun. stout is at rank #16,140, tagged as anadj, pronounced /staʊt/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 40135, this pair ranks #270,363 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of shutout vs stout

Shared letters: ostu. Private to "shutout": h. Private to "stout": -.

"shutout" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC  ·  "stout" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shutout ← hsutout · shhutout · shtuout · shuotut · shutotu · shutoutt · shuttout · shutuot
  • stout ← sotut · sstout · stotu · stoutt · sttout · stuot · tsout

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "shutout" and "stout" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "shutout" is a noun and "stout" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "shutout" or "stout"?
"stout" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,140 in our English list, against #23,995 for "shutout". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "shutout" and "stout".

  • Full dictionary entry for "shutout" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stout" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #270,363 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "shutout" and "stout" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stout vs sturt". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #270,363 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list