# spot

> English word · Noun · IPA /spɒt/ · frequency rank #1,377

## Definitions
1. A round or irregular patch on the surface of a thing having a different color, texture etc. and generally round in shape.
2. A stain or disfiguring mark.
3. A pimple, papule or pustule.
4. A symbol on a playing card, domino, die, etc. indicating its value; a pip.
5. A small, unspecified amount or quantity.
6. A bill of five-dollar or ten-dollar denomination in dollars.
7. A location or area.
8. A parking space.
9. An official determination of placement.
10. A bright lamp; a spotlight.
11. A brief advertisement or program segment on television.
12. A difficult situation.
13. One who spots (supports or assists a maneuver, or is prepared to assist if safety dictates); a spotter.
14. Penalty spot.
15. The act of spotting or noticing something.
16. A variety of the common domestic pigeon, so called from a spot on its head just above the beak.
17. A food fish (Leiostomus xanthurus) of the Atlantic coast of the United States, with a black spot behind the shoulders and fifteen oblique dark bars on the sides.
18. The southern redfish, or red horse (Sciaenops ocellatus), which has a spot on each side at the base of the tail.
19. Commodities, such as merchandise and cotton, sold for immediate delivery.
20. An autosoliton.
21. A decimal point; point.
22. Any of various points marked on the table, from which balls are played, in snooker, pool, billiards, etc.
23. Any of the balls marked with spots in the game of pool, which one player aims to pot, the other player taking the stripes.

## Etymology
From Middle English spot, spotte, partially from Middle Dutch spotte (“spot, speck”), and partially merging with Middle English splot, from Old English splott (“spot, plot of land”), from Proto-West Germanic *splott, from Proto-Germanic *spluttaz (“segment”), from Proto-Indo-European *splt-no- (“an off-split, segment”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- (“to split”).
Cognate with North Frisian spot (“speck, piece of ground”), Low German spot (“speck”), Old Norse spotti (“small piece”). See also splot, splotch.

## Easily confused with
- **spy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-spy)
- **SPS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-sps)
- **SPR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-spr)
- **SST** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-sst)
- **stop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-stop)
- **suit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-suit)
- **stat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-stat)
- **spun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-spun)
- **spur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-spur)
- **SWAT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-swat)
- **stow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-stow)
- **spud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-spud)
- **swot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-swot)
- **spots** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-spots)
- **stout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-stout)
- **spout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-spout)
- **spurt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-spurt)
- **sprout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-sprout)
- **spotty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-spotty)
- **so** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/so-vs-spot)

## Common misspellings (5)
`sopt`, `spott`, `sppot`, `spto`, `sspot`

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