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# spotting

«spotting» in Mova's school dictionary: **noticing or seeing something, often something hard to find** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb, -ing form of spot (spot, spots, spotted, spotting); noun (spotting, uncountable — e.g. bird spotting)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Spotting means noticing or seeing something, often something hard to find. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spotting/#m1)

2) Spotting is a hobby of watching for and recording things, like bird spotting or train spotting. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spotting/#m2)

3) In sports and gym, spotting means standing by to help and catch someone so they do not get hurt. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spotting/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In reading and maths, pupils practise spotting patterns, mistakes or clues. In science, spotting birds or bugs is part of nature surveys. In stories, detectives are good at spotting clues. Safety: spotting dangers, like a car coming, keeps you safe. Phrases: «good at spotting», «spotting the difference».

### examples

- She is good at spotting mistakes in her work. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spotting/#x1)
- We went bird spotting in the park. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spotting/#x2)
- Can you play «spot the difference»? I'm spotting three already. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spotting/#x3)
- The lifeguard is spotting swimmers who need help. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spotting/#x4)
- Spotting a pattern helps you find the next number. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spotting/#x5)
- The coach was spotting me on the balance beam. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spotting/#x6)
- Keep spotting for cars before you cross. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spotting/#x7)

### note

The -ing form of spot doubles the t: «spotting», «spotted». Spot can also mean a dot or a pimple, so read the sentence. In maths, spotting a pattern (like +3 each time) helps predict the next numbers.

### In the corpora

- [Spotting a bot's mistakes is a real skill that teachers train.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/10-using-ai-to-learn-not-to-copy/18/)
- [Dancers avoid getting dizzy when spinning by spotting: fixing their eyes on one point and whipping the head round to find it again.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/30-dances-of-the-world-and-dancing-at-parties/11/)
- [Side vision (peripheral vision) is good at spotting movement but poor at seeing detail.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/11-eyes-up/10/)
- [Grown-ups have frenemies too; spotting one is a skill for life.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/468-nice-alone-mean-in-a-group/34/)
- [Films, cartoons and games are full of them, and spotting them is a favourite olympiad puzzle.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/history/87-olympiad-spot-the-anachronism/1/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «spotting» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spotting/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.