spackling

Meanings

1. 1noununcountable

   A thick soft paste used to fill small holes and cracks in walls before painting.

   Grammar: Uncountable, so no plural: say some spackling, not 'a spackling' when you mean the material.

   Patterns

   • fill something with spackling
   • a tube of spackling

   She filled the nail holes with spackling and sanded them smooth.

   The spackling takes about an hour to dry before you can paint over it.

   He bought a small tub of spackling at the hardware store.

2. 2verbintransitiveAmerican

   The -ing form of spackle: filling holes or cracks in a surface with this paste.

   Grammar: Used after be or while to show an action in progress: she is spackling the wall.

   Patterns

   • be spackling something
   • spackling the walls

   Dad is spackling the holes in the kitchen wall right now.

   While spackling, keep the knife at a low angle so the surface stays flat.

Common combinations

spackling compound

Use spackling compound for small dents, not for large broken areas.

fill a hole with spackling

Fill each hole with spackling and let it dry completely.

sand the spackling

Lightly sand the spackling until it is level with the wall.

a tub of spackling

A tub of spackling costs only a few dollars.

Synonyms and how they differ

filler

The usual British word for the same wall-repair paste; in the US, filler can also mean other kinds of filling material.

putty

A stiffer paste used mostly for sealing glass into frames or filling wood, not for smoothing drywall.

Word family

spackle verb

to fill holes or cracks in a wall with paste

spackle noun

the same paste, used especially in the phrase a jar of spackle

Commonly confused: spackling or speckling?

Practice

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