Glossary
Honeypot
A hidden field that traps bots without bothering humans.
A honeypot is a form field that is hidden from humans (via CSS or off-screen positioning, not the disabled attribute) but visible to automated scripts that parse the raw HTML. Bots fill every field they find; a real person never sees this one, so any submission with it filled is almost certainly spam.
The appeal is accessibility: unlike a CAPTCHA, a honeypot adds zero friction and no cognitive load for legitimate respondents, including those using assistive technology. It is silent anti-spam that respects the people you actually want to hear from.
It is not a complete defence on its own. Sophisticated bots can detect common honeypot patterns, so combine it with timing checks (submissions completed in under a second are suspicious) and server-side validation. See form accessibility for why honeypots beat CAPTCHAs on inclusive design.