build up
"build-up" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“build up” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To erect; to construct.
Corpus desk
Index EN-build-up · build up · English
build up · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | build up |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “build up” in English
Rare enough to double-check
build up is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for build up in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is build up, spelled B-U-I-L-D- -U-P.
Definition
- 1To erect; to construct.
- 2To close up by building.
- 3To accumulate: to increase incrementally or continually.
- 4To strengthen.
- 5In solitaire card games, to place a card over another card of lower value. (e.g., place 5♦ over 4♣)
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how build up appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Near-synonym: build out
The motor bogies are built up from plates and rolled sections, and have cast-steel, one-piece axleguards, with manganese liners.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.