space out

verb

"space-out" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“space out” 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 position (objects, people, time slots, etc.) at regular intervals with a calculated space between them.

Corpus desk

Index EN-space-out · space out · English

space out · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 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 space out
PropertyValue
Headwordspace out
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “space out” in English

space outsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

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

Rare enough to double-check

space out is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

space out has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is space out, spelled S-P-A-C-E- -O-U-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    To position (objects, people, time slots, etc.) at regular intervals with a calculated space between them.
  2. 2
    To become distracted or disoriented; to lose attention or focus.
  3. 3
    To increase the white space between letters, words or lines.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. She spaced out the yoga mats as much as she could while leaving room for some walkways.
  2. She spaced out her scheduled events as much as she could while leaving time for question-and-answer sessions.

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 "space out"?
"space out" is spelled S-P-A-C-E- -O-U-T.
What does "space out" mean?
As a verb, "space out" means: To position (objects, people, time slots, etc.) at regular intervals with a calculated space between them.
What language does "space out" come from?
"space out" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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