up

Name: up, German Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

[ʌp]

/[ʌp]/ adv

By PlainSpell Editorial Team · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed May 6, 2026

The verdict

“up” is a regularly-used German word, ranked #1,907 in German word frequency and used as an adverb.

#1,907
frequency rank, German: 2
letters: 20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - nach oben

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

up vs us

50% similar

up vs UV

0% similar

up vs USA

0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for up
Property	Value
Headword	up
Language	German
Part of speech	Adverb
IPA	[ʌp]
Letters	2
Frequency rank	#1,907
Misspellings tracked	0
Confusable pairs	20
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “up” sits in German frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). up lands here:

#1,907

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for up is 2 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ʌp]. Corpus data places it at rank #1,907 in overall German word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "nach oben".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for up, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "us", "UV", "USA", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is up, spelled U-P.

Definition

1
nach oben

Antonyms

down

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "up"?

"up" is spelled U-P. The IPA pronunciation is [ʌp].

What does "up" mean?

As an adverb, "up" means: nach oben

What words are commonly confused with "up"?

"up" is commonly confused with "us", "UV", "USA". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

How do you pronounce "up"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "up" is [ʌp]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.

What language does "up" come from?

"up" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.

Is PlainSpell free to use?

Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “up”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

The one correct German spelling is U-P - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Say it as [ʌp] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
Don't mix it up with “us” - see the side-by-side comparison. up vs us
Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.