Catch up or catchup?
catch up is a verb meaning “To pick up suddenly”; catchup is a noun meaning “Alternative form of ketchup”. catch up is written as two words and catchup as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between catch up and catchup?
| catch up | catchup | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | noun |
| Meaning | To pick up suddenly To entangle (something) An act of catching up or attempting to catch up | Alternative form of ketchup Alternative spelling of catch-up |
| Example | The speaker wires have got caught up with the wires from the lights | none recorded |
| Forms | none | catchups |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkæt͡ʃ.ʌp/ /ˈkɛt͡ʃ.ʌp/ /ˈkæt͡ʃ.ɐp/ | not recorded |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | about once in every 7 million words |
Sources: catch up and catchup 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 catch up and catchup
catch up
- 1
To pick up suddenly
- 2
Alternative spelling of catch-up
- 3
An act of catching up or attempting to catch up
- 4
To entangle (something)
The speaker wires have got caught up with the wires from the lights
- 5
An amount, a thing, or a receipt or repetition of information that enables one to catch up
- 6
To involve in (something); to embroil
That's why she got caught up in addiction
- 7
To be brought up to date with news
I hadn't seen her for so long. It was great to catch up
- 8
To bring (someone) up to date with the news
After Alice's vacation, her boss caught her up on policy changes
catchup
- 1
Alternative form of ketchup
- 2
Alternative spelling of catch-up
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, catch up or catchup?
catch up is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; catchup about once in every 7 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 catch up vs catchup?
“catch up vs catchup” is searched about 390 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“catchup vs catch up”, “catch up or catchup”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.