Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

spotty

/spˈɑti/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.94 in modern English

Syllables: spot-ty
IPA: /spˈɑti/

11

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

2

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Having spots; spotted.

adj

Occurring in non-contiguous positions or locations.

adj

Of inconsistent quality.

adj

Inconsistent: not reliably good, sometimes bad.

noun

A common New Zealand fish, Notolabrus celidotus

Example Sentences

"Mobile phone reception in this area tends to be rather spotty."
"Near-synonyms: shoddy, iffy"
"Many of the buyers had a spotty credit history."
"Many of the low-cost accessories (cords, chargers, etc) sold in the dollar store had spotty quality."
"I went fishing today and all I caught were spotties."

Etymology

From Middle English spotty, equivalent to spot + -y.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: spotty
Suffix: spot

Inflected Forms

spottier (comparative) spottiest (superlative) spotties (plural)

Derived Forms

spottily spottiness unspotty

Synonyms

shoddy iffy uneven scratchy patched spotted

Rhymes With

karate potty scotty maserati scottie marathi lottie bugatti gotti dottie knotty kiribati

Questions

How do you pronounce spotty?: The recorded pronunciation is /spˈɑti/.
What does spotty mean?: Having spots; spotted.
Where does spotty come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce spotty

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “spotty”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/spˈɑti/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “spotty”.
Repeat and practice — Say “spotty” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.