A slot is the position or placement of a reel on a slot machine. The number of reels and the symbols that appear on each can determine how many pay lines are used for a particular spin. A single slot can also determine the amount of money you win if a winning combination is made.

In online gaming, slots are dynamic placeholders that either wait for content to be added (a passive slot) or call out to a renderer to fill them with content (an active slot). They can be either standalone elements of the Web page, or part of a scenario element, which itself is a container for other dynamic items.

The term ‘slot’ is also used to refer to a specific position on the playing field of football, especially at college and professional levels. A slot receiver is typically a 3rd string receiver who plays on passing downs and is a pass-catching specialist. Great ones like Wes Welker are good at catching short passes and getting open on trick-plays.

Slot is also the name of a feature on a computer motherboard that enables the addition of expansion cards such as an ISA, PCI, or AGP slot. A slot is also a generic term for a place where a plug-in device, such as an optical disk drive, can be inserted. The word can also be used to describe the time of day a television or radio program is broadcast.