# spout

> English word · Noun · IPA /spaʊt/ · frequency rank #25,218

## Definitions
1. A tube or lip through which liquid or steam is poured or discharged.
2. A waterspout (“channel through which water is discharged, especially from the gutters of a roof”).
3. A stream or discharge of liquid, typically with some degree of force.
4. A stream of water that falls from higher to lower; a (typically thin) waterfall.
5. A similar stream or fall of earth, rock, etc.
6. A waterspout (“whirlwind or tornado that forms over water”).
7. The mixture of air and water thrown up from the blowhole of a whale.
8. A hollow stump formed when a tree branch breaks off.

## Etymology
From Middle English spouten, from Middle Dutch spoiten, spouten (> Dutch spuiten (“to spout”)), from Old Dutch *spūten, *spīuten, *spīwetten, from Proto-West Germanic *spīwattjan, from Proto-Germanic *spīwatjaną. Compare Swedish spruta (“squirt, syringe”). See also spit, spew.

## Easily confused with
- **spun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spout-vs-spun)
- **spur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spout-vs-spur)
- **spud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spout-vs-spud)
- **swot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spout-vs-swot)
- **stout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spout-vs-stout)
- **strut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spout-vs-strut)
- **spurt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spout-vs-spurt)
- **sprout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spout-vs-sprout)
- **sou** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sou-vs-spout)
- **sot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sot-vs-spout)
- **shot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shot-vs-spout)
- **sort** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sort-vs-spout)
- **spot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spot-vs-spout)
- **soul** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/soul-vs-spout)
- **shut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shut-vs-spout)
- **soft** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/soft-vs-spout)
- **soup** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/soup-vs-spout)
- **slot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/slot-vs-spout)
- **sour** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sour-vs-spout)
- **spit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spit-vs-spout)

## Common misspellings (7)
`psout`, `soput`, `spotu`, `spoutt`, `sppout`, `spuot`, `sspout`

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