# spoil

> English word · Verb · IPA /spɔɪl/ · frequency rank #9,543

## Definitions
1. To strip (someone who has been killed or defeated) of arms or armour.
2. To strip or deprive (someone) of possessions; to rob, despoil.
3. To plunder, pillage (a city, country etc.).
4. To carry off (goods) by force; to steal.
5. To ruin; to damage in such a way as to make undesirable or unusable.
6. To ruin the character of, by overindulgence; to coddle or pamper to excess.
7. To go bad; to become sour or rancid; to decay.
8. To render (a ballot) invalid by deliberately defacing.
9. To prematurely reveal major events or the ending of (a story etc.); to ruin (a surprise) by exposing ahead of time as a spoiler.
10. To reduce the lift generated by an airplane or wing by deflecting air upwards, usually with a spoiler.
11. To be very eager (for something).

## Etymology
From Middle English spoilen, spuylen, borrowed from Old French espoillier, espollier, espuler, from Latin spoliāre (“pillage, ruin, spoil”).

## Easily confused with
- **spot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-spot)
- **sport** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-sport)
- **spoke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-spoke)
- **spots** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-spots)
- **spoon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-spoon)
- **stool** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-stool)
- **stoic** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-stoic)
- **spout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-spout)
- **spoof** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-spoof)
- **spore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-spore)
- **Sybil** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-sybil)
- **spook** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-spook)
- **spool** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-spool)
- **Sunil** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-sunil)
- **Stoll** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-stoll)
- **spoils** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-spoils)
- **spoilt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-spoilt)
- **spoiled** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-spoiled)
- **spoiler** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spoil-vs-spoiler)
- **sol** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sol-vs-spoil)

## Common misspellings (7)
`psoil`, `sopil`, `spiol`, `spoill`, `spoli`, `sppoil`, `sspoil`

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