English Word Reference Free

make-out

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

8 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

open dictionary

Access

Free

no sign-up needed

Detailed reference entry for the English word "make-out", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "make-out" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "make-out" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

make out is aEnglishverb. It means: To draw up (a document etc.), to designate (a cheque). Pronounced /meɪk aʊt/.

Compare similar words

See how make out compares against similar English words.

Browse all word comparisons →
Key facts for make out
PropertyValue
Headwordmake out
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/meɪk aʊt/
Letters8
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

make out is not present in the top-100,000 ranked English corpus, typical for technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary.

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for make out is 8 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /meɪk aʊt/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader.Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for make out in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is make out, spelled M-A-K-E- -O-U-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    To draw up (a document etc.), to designate (a cheque).
  2. 2
    To send out.
  3. 3
    To discern; to manage to see, hear etc.
  4. 4
    To manage, get along; to do (well, badly etc.).
  5. 5
    To represent; to make (something) appear to be true.
  6. 6
    To get along with (someone).
  7. 7
    To make an (often temporary) home.
  8. 8
    To embrace and kiss passionately.
  9. 9
    To engage in heavy petting or sexual intercourse.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "make out"?
"make out" is spelled M-A-K-E- -O-U-T. The IPA pronunciation is /meɪk aʊt/.
What does "make out" mean?
As a verb, "make out" means: To draw up (a document etc.), to designate (a cheque).
How do you pronounce "make out"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "make out" is /meɪk aʊt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "make out" come from?
"make out" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter M in our English index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.