Warm up or warmup?
warm up is a noun meaning “The act of exercising or stretching in preparation for strenuous activity”; warmup is a noun meaning “Alternative spelling of warm-up”. warm up is written as two words and warmup as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between warm up and warmup?
| warm up | warmup | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun |
| Meaning | The act of exercising or stretching in preparation for strenuous activity Any act of preparation for a performance To become warmer | Alternative spelling of warm-up |
| Example | If you don't do your warm-ups properly you have a greater chance of injury | none recorded |
| Forms | warm-ups | warmups |
| Pronunciation | /ˌwɔː(ɹ)m ˈʌp/ | not recorded |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | about once in every 2 million words |
Sources: warm up and warmup 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 warm up and warmup
warm up
- 1
The act of exercising or stretching in preparation for strenuous activity
If you don't do your warm-ups properly you have a greater chance of injury
- 2
To become warmer
He came inside to warm up
- 3
Any act of preparation for a performance
Drivers are allowed 5 minutes for warm-up before the race starts
- 4
To heat or reheat (e.g. food)
I couldn't be bothered to cook another meal so I just warmed up yesterday's leftovers
- 5
A period of time allocated for performing warm-ups
Keep a sharp eye on the referee during warm-up to check out his mood
- 6
To reach, or cause to reach, a normal operating temperature (of a car for example)
These old valve radios take a few minutes to warm up
- 7
To do gentle exercise, stretching etc., in order to prepare the body for more vigorous exercise
It is important to warm up properly before your gym session
- 8
To prepare for an activity by carrying out a practice or preparation routine
The band were already on stage, warming up for the gig
warmup
- 1
Alternative spelling of warm-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, warm up or warmup?
warm up is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; warmup about once in every 2 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 warm up vs warmup?
“warm up vs warmup” is searched about 110 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“warmup vs warm up”, “warm up or warmup”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.