Spoken describes words that are said out loud rather than written down. When you have a spoken conversation with a friend, you're talking face-to-face or on the phone, not texting or emailing. A spoken language is one that people currently speak, as opposed to a language like Latin that many people mainly read and write.

The word often emphasizes the difference between saying something and writing it. Spoken English sounds different from written English: people use shorter sentences, repeat themselves, pause mid-thought, and rely on tone of voice to show meaning. When you read a transcript of a spoken conversation, it can look messy on paper even though it made perfect sense when people said it.

Teachers sometimes distinguish between spoken and written assignments. A spoken presentation means you'll talk to the class, while a written report means you'll turn in pages. Some people are better at expressing themselves in spoken form, thinking quickly on their feet, while others prefer the time to revise that writing provides.

Spoken can also be the past participle of speak, describing someone who has already talked: “She had spoken to the principal earlier that day.”