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PlainSpell

call out

verb

call out is spelled C-A-L-L-O-U-T: 7 letters. People search “call-out vs callout” about 10 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, call out means “To specify, especially in detail” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in call out?

Letters7: C-A-L-L-O-U-T
In writinga phrase: the frequency list counts single words
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How do you pronounce call out?

  • Australia

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-call_out.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with call out

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

call-out vs callout10 G

Also written: callout (one word or two).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of call out

  • calls out present, singular, he/she/it
  • calling out participle, present
  • called out participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does call out mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To specify, especially in detail.

    They call out 304 stainless steel in the drawing, but the part was made from aluminum.

  2. 2

    To order into service; to summon into service.

    The Governor called out the National Guard.

  3. 3

    To yell out; to vocalize audibly; announce.

  4. 4

    archaicTo challenge (someone) to a duel.

  5. 5

    slangTo challenge (someone) to a fight.

  6. 6

    colloquialTo criticize or denounce (someone); to bring up previously unspoken criticisms about (someone); to point out (someone's) faults.

    He was very insulting. Finally Jack called him out and shut him up.

  7. 7

    To contact one's workplace and announce that one is unable to attend work. Regionalism short for call out sick; much more commonly: call in sick.

noun

as call-out
  1. 1

    Alternative spelling of callout.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Call out in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpréciser, spécifier (to specify), convoquer, appeler (to order into service; to summon into service), annoncer, crier (to yell out)
Spanishespecificar (to specify), llamar, convocar (to order into service; to summon into service), clamar (to yell out), increpar, reprender (to challenge)
Germanzur Rede stellen, angehen (to challenge)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does call out come from?

Deverbal from call out.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after call out