scout

/skaʊt/

//skaʊt// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"scout" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“scout” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #7,498. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#7,498
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A person sent out to gather and bring back information; especially, one employed in war to gain information about the enemy and ground.

Corpus desk

Index EN-scout · scout · English

scout · rank #7,498 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,498
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH scattered

Nearest frequency peer: scattered (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “scout”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “scout” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

scout vs sou
60% similar
scout vs sot
60% similar
scout vs shot
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for scout
PropertyValue
Headwordscout
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/skaʊt/
Letters5
Frequency rank#7,498
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “scout”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).scoutlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “scattered” (#7,497), “searched” (#7,499), “sally” (#7,496). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “scout” is #7,498. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around scout (IPA /skaʊt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #7,498 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 11 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for scout, with forms such as "csout", "sccout", and "scotu". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "sou", "sot", "shot", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English scout, scoult, from Old French escoute (“action of listening”), verbal noun from escouter (“to listen, heed”), from Latin auscultō (“to listen”). The verb comes from the noun. The correct English form is scout, spelled S-C-O-U-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    A person sent out to gather and bring back information; especially, one employed in war to gain information about the enemy and ground.
  2. 2
    An act of scouting or reconnoitering.
  3. 3
    A member of any number of youth organizations belonging to the international scout movement, such as the Boy Scouts of America or Girl Scouts of the United States.
  4. 4
    A person who assesses or recruits others; especially, one who identifies promising talent on behalf of a sports team.
  5. 5
    A person employed to monitor rivals' activities in the petroleum industry.
  6. 6
    A housekeeper or domestic cleaner, generally female, employed by one of the constituent colleges of Oxford University to clean rooms; generally equivalent to a modern bedder at Cambridge University.
  7. 7
    A domestic servant, generally male, who would attend (usually several) students in a variety of ways, including cleaning; generally equivalent to a gyp at Cambridge University or a skip at Trinity College, Dublin.
  8. 8
    A fielder in a game for practice.
  9. 9
    A fighter aircraft.
  10. 10
    A preliminary image that allows the technician to make adjustments before the actual diagnostic images.
  11. 11
    A term of address for a man or boy.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how scout appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. while the rat is on the scout
  2. May 6, 1883 […] This camp, the finest on this scout, has not so much running water as some of the others; […] May 7, 1883 […] Colonel Aguerre was going today or tomorrow with four hundred regular troops for a scout in the Sierra Madre […]

Etymology

From Middle English scout, scoult, from Old French escoute (“action of listening”), verbal noun from escouter (“to listen, heed”), from Latin auscultō (“to listen”). The verb comes from the noun.

This word in other languages

explorador(Español)éclaireur(Français)Kundschafter(Deutsch)batimento(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • csout
  • sccout
  • scotu
  • scoutt
  • scuot
  • socut
  • sscout

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of scout - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

csout2sccout1scotu2scoutt1scuot2socut2sscout1
Edit distance from "scout"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "scout"?
"scout" is spelled S-C-O-U-T. The IPA pronunciation is /skaʊt/.
What does "scout" mean?
As a noun, "scout" means: A person sent out to gather and bring back information; especially, one employed in war to gain information about the enemy and ground.
What words are commonly confused with "scout"?
"scout" is commonly confused with "sou", "sot", "shot". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "scout"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "scout" is /skaʊt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "scout"?
From Middle English scout, scoult, from Old French escoute (“action of listening”), verbal noun from escouter (“to listen, heed”), from Latin auscultō (“to listen”). The verb comes from the noun. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "scout", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

sally#7,496steak#7,503sweep#7,507poker#7,483

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

tumor7 variantsapples7 variantslanes7 variantsCasey7 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list