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PlainSpell

scope

/skoʊp/noun, verb

scope is spelled S-C-O-P-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,589th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, scope means “The breadth, depth or reach of a subject; the extent of applicability or relevance; a domain, purview or remit” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of scope is scopes or μscopes.

How many letters and syllables are in scope?

Letters5: S-C-O-P-E
Syllables1
In writing18 times per million words; the 4,589th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is scope?

Scope appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,589th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce scope?

  • UK /skəʊp/
  • US /skoʊp/
  • Australia /skəʉp/

Scope has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-scope.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl--scope.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with scope?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as scope from its last stressed vowel (/oʊp/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: copse.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of scope

  • scopes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • scoping participle, present
  • scoped participle, past
  • μscopes plural
  • μ-scope
  • μ-scopes plural

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

What does scope mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    The breadth, depth or reach of a subject; the extent of applicability or relevance; a domain, purview or remit.

    Environmental impacts lie outside the scope of this report.

  2. 2

    A device used in aiming a projectile, through which the person aiming looks at the intended target.

  3. 3

    Potential range of action; degree of freedom; opportunity.

    My job doesn't give me much scope for personal development.

  4. 4

    The region of program source code in which a given identifier is meaningful, or a given object can be accessed.

  5. 5

    The shortest sub-wff of which a given instance of a logical connective is a part.

  6. 6

    The region of an utterance to which some modifying element applies.

    the scope of an adverb

  7. 7

    Ellipsis of any word ending in -scope, such as endoscope, periscope, telescope, microscope, oscilloscope, and so on.

  8. 8

    colloquialAny medical procedure that ends in the suffix -scopy, such as endoscopy, colonoscopy, bronchoscopy, etc.

  9. 9

    obsoleteA bundle, as of twigs.

verb

  1. 1

    informalTo perform a cursory investigation of; scope out.

  2. 2

    colloquialTo perform any medical procedure that ends in the suffix -scopy, such as endoscopy, colonoscopy, bronchoscopy, etc.

    The surgeon will scope the football player's knee to repair damage to a ligament.

  3. 3

    To define the scope of something.

  4. 4

    To limit (an object or variable) to a certain region of program source code.

    If we locally scope the user's login name, it won't be accessible from outside this function.

  5. 5

    informalTo examine under a microscope.

    The entomologist explained that he could not tell what species of springtail we were looking at without scoping it.

  6. 6

    informalTo observe a bird using a spotting scope.

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

Scope in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchportée (breadth, depth or reach of a subject; extent of…), -scope (suffix to name viewing instruments)
GermanUmfang, Bereich, Umgebung, Rahmen, Feld, Raum (breadth, depth or reach of a subject; extent of…)
Portugueseâmbito, escopo (breadth, depth or reach of a subject; extent of…), -scópio (suffix to name viewing instruments)
Spanishámbito, rubro, escopo (breadth, depth or reach of a subject; extent of…), -scopio (suffix to name viewing instruments), alcance (scope of an identifier)

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 scope come from?

From Italian scopo (“purpose”), from Latin scopus (“target”), from Ancient Greek σκοπός (skopós), from σκέπτομαι (sképtomai), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ-.

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

What to look up after scope