# pothole

> English word · Noun · frequency rank #41,316

## Definitions
1. A shallow pit or other edged depression in a road's surface, especially when caused by erosion by weather or traffic.
2. A pit formed in the bed of a turbulent stream.
3. A vertical cave system, often found in limestone.
4. A pit resulting from unauthorized excavation by treasure-hunters or vandals.
5. A shallow hole dug for the purpose of prospecting for opal or gold.
6. A hyperlink with text displayed on a page that is different from the title of the page to which the text links; a piped link.

## Etymology
From dialectal pot (“pit, hollow, cavity”) + hole. The "cave" senses, attested since at least 1809 (as pot-hole), may be from Middle English pot, potte (“a deep hole for a mine, or from peat-digging”), of uncertain origin; perhaps related to English pit, pote, or pot. Compare Scots pott, patt (“a pit dug in the ground; coalpit”).

## Easily confused with
- **Poole** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/poole-vs-pothole)
- **potable** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/potable-vs-pothole)

## Common misspellings (10)
`opthole`, `pohtole`, `pothhole`, `pothloe`, `pothoel`, `potholle`, `potohle`, `potthole`, `ppothole`, `ptohole`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/pothole