big shot

noun

"big-shot" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“big shot” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
8
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A person with a reputation of importance or power.

Corpus desk

Index EN-big-shot · big shot · English

big shot · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "B" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for big shot
PropertyValue
Headwordbig shot
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “big shot” in English

big shotsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

big shot is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for big shot in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is big shot, spelled B-I-G- -S-H-O-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    A person with a reputation of importance or power.
  2. 2
    A rare and significant chance to achieve fame or success.
  3. 3
    Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see big, shot.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how big shot appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. They stopped traffic so some big shot and his entourage could have the whole road to themselves.
  2. her one big shot at the brass ring

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "big shot"?
"big shot" is spelled B-I-G- -S-H-O-T.
What does "big shot" mean?
As a noun, "big shot" means: A person with a reputation of importance or power.
What language does "big shot" come from?
"big shot" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list