wind up

/waɪnd ˈʌp/

//waɪnd ˈʌp// noun

"wind-up" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“wind up” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Alternative form of wind-up.

Corpus desk

Index EN-wind-up · wind up · English

wind up · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 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.

Key facts for wind up
PropertyValue
Headwordwind up
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/waɪnd ˈʌp/
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “wind up” in English

wind upsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

wind up is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /waɪnd ˈʌp/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Alternative form of wind-up.".

wind up doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is wind up, spelled W-I-N-D- -U-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    Alternative form of wind-up.

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

How do you spell "wind up"?
"wind up" is spelled W-I-N-D- -U-P. The IPA pronunciation is /waɪnd ˈʌp/.
What does "wind up" mean?
As a noun, "wind up" means: Alternative form of wind-up.
How do you pronounce "wind up"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "wind up" is /waɪnd ˈʌp/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "wind up" come from?
"wind up" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list