speedup

noun

"speedup" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“speedup” is uncommon English (frequency #81,844 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#81,844
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An amount or rate of decrease in time taken to do a certain amount of work.

Corpus desk

Index EN-speedup · speedup · English

speedup · rank #81,844 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #81,844
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH speedball

Nearest frequency peer: speedball (-1 rank slots)

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.

Long-tail ranks near “speedup”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “speedup” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for speedup
PropertyValue
Headwordspeedup
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#81,844
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “speedup” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).speedupfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “speedball” (#81,843), “Southworth” (#81,841), “Somnath” (#81,840). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “speedup” is #81,844. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

speedup is uncommon English at frequency #81,844 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for speedup, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: Deverbal from speed up. The correct English form is speedup, spelled S-P-E-E-D-U-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    An amount or rate of decrease in time taken to do a certain amount of work.
  2. 2
    The relationship between time taken and number of processors used.
  3. 3
    An employer's demand for more output without more pay.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how speedup appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The results of this generalized speedup of the corporate metabolism are multiple: shorter product life cycles, more leasing and renting, more frequent buying and selling, more ephemeral consumption patterns, […]
  2. There were, of course, those observers who argued that since in some industries 50 or 60 per cent of those employed were scientific, technical, and administrative staff, the employer would soon include them in his speedup plans.

Etymology

Deverbal from speed up.

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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "speedup"?
"speedup" is spelled S-P-E-E-D-U-P.
What does "speedup" mean?
As a noun, "speedup" means: An amount or rate of decrease in time taken to do a certain amount of work.
What is the origin of the word "speedup"?
Deverbal from speed up. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "speedup", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list