speed up
/spiːd.ˈʌp/
"speed-up" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“speed up” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To accelerate; to increase speed.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | speed up |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /spiːd.ˈʌp/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “speed up” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for speed up is 8 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /spiːd.ˈʌp/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No generated misspelling entries exist for speed up in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is speed up, spelled S-P-E-E-D- -U-P.
Definition
- 1To accelerate; to increase speed.
- 2To accelerate (something): to increase its speed, to make it go faster.
Synonyms
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “speed up”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-P-E-E-D- -U-P - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /spiːd.ˈʌp/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.