# spook

> English word · Noun · IPA /spuːk/ · frequency rank #33,857

## Definitions
1. A ghost or phantom.
2. A hobgoblin.
3. A scare or fright.
4. An undercover agent, spy, or intelligence analyst.
5. A black person.
6. A metaphysical manifestation; an artificial distinction or construct.
7. A psychiatrist.
8. A player who engages in hole carding by attempting to glimpse the dealer's hole card when the dealer checks under an ace or a 10 to see if a blackjack is present.

## Etymology
Borrowed from Dutch spook (“ghost”), from Middle Dutch spooc (“spook, ghost”). Cognate with Middle Low German spôk, spûk (“apparition, ghost”), Middle High German gespük (“a haunting”), German Spuk, Danish spøge (“to haunt”), Swedish spöke (“ghost”).

## Easily confused with
- **spot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spook-vs-spot)
- **stock** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spook-vs-stock)
- **sport** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spook-vs-sport)
- **stood** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spook-vs-stood)
- **spots** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spook-vs-spots)
- **spoon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spook-vs-spoon)
- **stool** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spook-vs-stool)
- **swoop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spook-vs-swoop)
- **stoop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spook-vs-stoop)
- **spout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spook-vs-spout)
- **spore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spook-vs-spore)
- **stork** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spook-vs-stork)
- **swoon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spook-vs-swoon)
- **spool** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spook-vs-spool)
- **spunk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spook-vs-spunk)
- **spooky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spook-vs-spooky)
- **spoons** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spook-vs-spoons)
- **soon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/soon-vs-spook)
- **soak** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/soak-vs-spook)
- **sock** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sock-vs-spook)

## Common misspellings (7)
`psook`, `sopok`, `spok`, `spoko`, `spookk`, `sppook`, `sspook`

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