spoon
/spuːn/noun, verb
spoon is spelled S-P-O-O-N: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 7.6 times per million words in written English, the 8,542nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, spoon means “An implement for eating or serving; a scooped utensil whose long handle is straight, in contrast to a ladle” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of spoon is spoons.
How many letters and syllables are in spoon?
| Letters | 5: S-P-O-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 7.6 times per million words; the 8,542nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is spoon?
Spoon appears 7.6 times per million words in written English, the 8,542nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce spoon?
- /spuːn/
- [ˈspʊu̯n]
Spoon has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-a_spoon.ogg, En-us-spoon.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with spoon?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as spoon.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: snoop.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of spoon
- spoons plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- spooning participle, present
- spooned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does spoon mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An implement for eating or serving; a scooped utensil whose long handle is straight, in contrast to a ladle.
- 2
An implement for stirring food while being prepared; a wooden spoon.
- 3
A measure that will fit into a spoon; a spoonful.
- 4
archaicA wooden-headed golf club with moderate loft, similar to the modern fairway wood.
- 5
slangAn oar.
- 6
A type of metal lure resembling the concave head of a tablespoon.
- 7
informalA spoon excavator.
- 8
A South African shrub of the genus Spatalla.
verb
- 1
To serve using a spoon; to transfer (something) with a spoon.
Sarah spooned some apple sauce onto her plate.
- 2
datedTo flirt; to make advances; to court, to interact romantically or amorously.
- 3
informalTo lie nestled front-to-back, following the contours of the bodies, in a manner reminiscent of stacked spoons.
- 4
informalTo have sex in such a position.
- 5
To hit (the ball) weakly, pushing it with a lifting motion, instead of striking with an audible knock.
- 6
To fish with a concave spoon bait.
- 7
To catch by fishing with a concave spoon bait.
- 8
Alternative form of spoom.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Spoon in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | cuiller, cuillère |
| German | Löffel , Löffelchen schlafen |
| Portuguese | colher , deitar de conchinha, fazer conchinha |
| Spanish | cuchara , echar con una cuchara, servir con una cuchara, cucharear |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does spoon come from?
From Middle English spoon, spoune, spone, spon (“spoon, chip of wood”), from Old English spōn (“sliver, chip of wood, shaving”), from Proto-West Germanic *spānu, from Proto-Germanic *spēnuz (“chip, flake, shaving”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peH- (“chip, shaving, log, length of wood”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).