lock out
"lock-out" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lock out” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To inadvertently prevent (a person, particularly oneself) from entering a place, by leaving it locked.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lock out |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lock out” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for lock out is 8 letters long, classified as a verb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for lock out, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is lock out, spelled L-O-C-K- -O-U-T.
Definition
- 1To inadvertently prevent (a person, particularly oneself) from entering a place, by leaving it locked.
- 2To prevent from accessing a data structure.
- 3(industrial) To prevent (a person, including oneself) from powering up or turning on a machine when doing so would be dangerous (accomplished with objects such as padlocks or zip ties placed through the switch handle, for example)
- 4(colloquial, sometimes humorous) To be unable to concentrate.
This word in other languages
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
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Using “lock out”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-O-C-K- -O-U-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.