work out
/ˌwɜːk ˈaʊt/
"work-out" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“work out” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To calculate.
Corpus desk
Index EN-work-out · work out · English
work out · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 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 | work out |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˌwɜːk ˈaʊt/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “work out” in English
Rare enough to double-check
work out is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ˌwɜːk ˈaʊt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 14 senses are on record.
work out has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is work out, spelled W-O-R-K- -O-U-T.
Definition
- 1To calculate.
- 2To make sense of.
- 3To decide.
- 4To bring about or cause to happen by work or effort.
- 5To resolve; to find a solution for.
- 6To develop or devise in detail; to elaborate.
- 7To smooth or perfect.
- 8To conclude with the correct solution.
- 9To succeed; to result in a satisfactory situation.
- 10To exercise, especially by lifting weights.
- 11To strengthen a part of one’s body by exercise.
- 12To earn a wage working away from one's farm.
- 13Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see work, out.
- 14To remove all the mineral that can be profitably exploited.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how work out appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Can you work out 250 × 12 in your head for me?
Can you work out how to get to the university by car?
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.