workout
/ˈwɝk.aʊ̯t/noun
workout is a noun meaning “An exercise session; a period of physical exercise” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled W-O-R-K-O-U-T and has 2 syllables, and it appears 10 times per million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of workout is workouts.
What does workout mean?
noun
- 1
An exercise session; a period of physical exercise.
- 2
A schedule or program of specific exercises, especially one intended to achieve a particular goal.
I read in another magazine about a workout that can put a whole inch on your arms in just one day!
- 3
Any activity that requires much physical or mental effort, or produces strain.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce workout?
- UK /ˈwɜːk.aʊ̯t/
- US /ˈwɝk.aʊ̯t/
Workout has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-workout.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of workout
- workouts plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is workout?
Workout appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 6,884th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Words people confuse with workout
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: work out (one word or two).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Workout in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense an exercise session; a period of physical exercise:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | entraînement |
| German | Workout, Training, Fitnesstraining |
| Portuguese | treino, malhação |
| Spanish | entrenamiento |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does workout come from?
Deverbal from work out.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).