shoot off

verb

"shoot-off" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“shoot off” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To leave quickly

Corpus desk

Index EN-shoot-off · shoot off · English

shoot off · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "S" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for shoot off
PropertyValue
Headwordshoot off
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “shoot off” in English

shoot offfalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

shoot off is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for shoot off in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is shoot off, spelled S-H-O-O-T- -O-F-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    To leave quickly
  2. 2
    To do (something, usually a written or verbal communication) quickly, and without hesitation or forethought.
  3. 3
    To overshoot the bounds of a set when filming, showing part of what lies outside it.
  4. 4
    Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see shoot, off.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. I have to shoot off, my interview starts in under an hour.
  2. In other situations, you might know someone who adds colour with personal anecdotes and feelings. You could shoot off a similar response – perhaps including a short story of your own to hammer home your point.

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

How do you spell "shoot off"?
"shoot off" is spelled S-H-O-O-T- -O-F-F.
What does "shoot off" mean?
As a verb, "shoot off" means: To leave quickly
What language does "shoot off" come from?
"shoot off" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list