U-turn
"u-turn" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“U-turn” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A turn in a vehicle carried out by driving in a semicircle in order to travel in the opposite direction.
Corpus desk
Index EN-u-turn · U-turn · English
U-turn · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "U" 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 | U-turn |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “U-turn” in English
Rare enough to double-check
U-turn is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for U-turn in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From U + turn, from the similarity to the shape of the letter U. The correct English form is U-turn, spelled U---T-U-R-N.
Definition
- 1A turn in a vehicle carried out by driving in a semicircle in order to travel in the opposite direction.
- 2A reversal of policy or opinion.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how U-turn appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
What's disappointing about all this doom and gloom is that the franchise has made the kind of whiplashing U-turn you might see in its car-chase sequences.
The government have done a U-turn and are now supporting greater European integration instead of opposing it.
Etymology
From U + turn, from the similarity to the shape of the letter U.
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.