Check up or checkup?
check up is a noun meaning “Alternative form of checkup”; checkup is a noun meaning “A routine visit to the doctor, dentist, or the like”. check up is written as two words and checkup as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between check up and checkup?
| check up | checkup | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun |
| Meaning | To verify through brief investigation or revisit for assurance that there are no problems To verify something's accuracy | A routine visit to the doctor, dentist, or the like A routine inspection |
| Example | I dropped by to check up on my friend | The appointment was just for a checkup |
| Forms | check-ups | checkups |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˈt͡ʃɛkʌp/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | about once in every 1 million words |
Sources: check up and checkup 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 check up and checkup
check up
- 1
Alternative form of checkup
- 2
To verify through brief investigation or revisit for assurance that there are no problems
I dropped by to check up on my friend
- 3
To verify something's accuracy
He's checking up the figures
- 4
To seem correct or plausible; to comport with known facts; to check out (with other facts)
The numbers she provided check up with my own data
checkup
- 1
A routine visit to the doctor, dentist, or the like
The appointment was just for a checkup
- 2
A routine inspection
I took my car in for an annual checkup
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, check up or checkup?
check up is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; checkup about once in every 1 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 check up vs checkup?
“check up vs checkup” is searched about 10 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“checkup vs check up”, “check up or checkup”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.