Carry over or carryover?
carry over is a verb meaning “the words carry and over, each in its own sense”; carryover is a noun meaning “Something whose duration has been extended or that has been transferred to…”. Use carry over as a verb and carryover as a noun. carry over is written as two words and carryover as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between carry over and carryover?
| carry over | carryover | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb | noun |
| Meaning | Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see carry, over To transfer (something) to a later point in time | Something whose duration has been extended or that has been transferred to another time An amount, especially a sum of money, transferred to a new column in a ledger, or applied to a later time |
| Example | We carried her over the bridge | none recorded |
| Forms | none | carryovers |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | not recorded |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | about once in every 4 million words |
Sources: carry over and carryover in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of carry over and carryover
carry over
- 1
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see carry, over
We carried her over the bridge
- 2
To transfer (something) to a later point in time
The rent was carried over to December
- 3
To carry; to transfer an excess quantity to the next column of digits
- 4
To continue cooking after being removed from a heat source
The chicken will carry over before it is served
- 5
To transfer
- 6
To induce to join an opposing party or faction
carryover
- 1
Something whose duration has been extended or that has been transferred to another time
- 2
An amount, especially a sum of money, transferred to a new column in a ledger, or applied to a later time
- 3
The damaging condition where water droplets are carried out of a steam boiler along with the dry steam
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, carry over or carryover?
carry over is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; carryover about once in every 4 million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search carry over vs carryover?
“carry over vs carryover” is searched about 30 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“carryover vs carry over”, “carry over or carryover”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.