Try out or tryout?
try out is a verb meaning “To test (something) to see how it works or whether it is suitable”; tryout is a noun meaning “A test of the suitability or effectiveness of a person or thing, especially an…”. Use try out as a verb and tryout as a noun. try out is written as two words and tryout as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between try out and tryout?
| try out | tryout | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | noun |
| Meaning | To test (something) to see how it works or whether it is suitable To undergo a test before being selected; to audition | A test of the suitability or effectiveness of a person or thing, especially an audition for a performer or athlete, or the advance staging of a play at a small… |
| Example | If you want to play varsity, you'll have to try out for the team | none recorded |
| Forms | none | tryouts |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˈtɹaɪˌaʊt/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | about once in every 1 million words |
Sources: try out and tryout 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 try out and tryout
try out
- 1
To test (something) to see how it works or whether it is suitable
- 2
Alternative form of tryout
- 3
To undergo a test before being selected; to audition
If you want to play varsity, you'll have to try out for the team
tryout
- 1
A test of the suitability or effectiveness of a person or thing, especially an audition for a performer or athlete, or the advance staging of a play at a small theatre
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, try out or tryout?
try out is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; tryout 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 try out vs tryout?
“try out vs tryout” is searched about 10 times a month on Bing (Google reports it together with close variants, so it has no figure of its own) in the United States.
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.