wake-up call
"wake-up-call" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wake-up call” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A telephone call to awaken someone at a certain time, especially one requested by the person while staying at a hotel.
Corpus desk
Index EN-wake-up-call · wake-up call · English
wake-up call · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "W" 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 | wake-up call |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “wake-up call” in English
Rare enough to double-check
wake-up call is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for wake-up call in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is wake-up call, spelled W-A-K-E---U-P- -C-A-L-L.
Definition
- 1A telephone call to awaken someone at a certain time, especially one requested by the person while staying at a hotel.
- 2An alert, reminder, or call to action caused by a dramatic event.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how wake-up call appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
She requested a five a.m. wake-up call from the front desk.
The recent deaths should serve as a wake-up call to others at risk.
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.