One word, or two?
Page 2 of 3 — more pairs that trip everyone up.
- Getaroundto Get around to
Always three words: "get around to" (finally do). A fixed phrasal idiom.
Brew tip Eventually doing a thing? Get around to it — three words.
- Getby Get by
Always two words: "get by" means manage, cope. No closed form.
Brew tip Just managing? You're getting by — two words.
- Getover Get over
Always two words: "get over" (recover from). No closed form.
Brew tip If you've recovered, you got over it — two words.
- Giveaway Give away
"Giveaway" is the noun — a free item or a revealing clue. "Give away" is the verb.
Brew tip "It was a giveaway that she gave away the answer."
- Givein Give in
Always two words: "give in" (yield). No closed form.
Brew tip Caving to pressure? Give in — two words.
- Giveup Give up
Always two words as a verb: "give up" (surrender, quit). No closed form.
Brew tip Quitting? Give up — two words.
- Glow-up Glow up
"Glow-up" (noun, hyphenated): the transformation. "Glow up" (verb): to undergo it.
Brew tip Noun takes a hyphen; verb stays open. "She glowed up — what a glow-up."
- Gointodetail Go into detail
Always three words: "go into detail." A fixed idiomatic phrase.
Brew tip Elaborating? Go into detail — three clean words.
- Goodbye Good-bye
GOODBYE (one word) is now standard. GOOD-BYE (hyphen) is older. GOOD BYE (two words) is rare.
Brew tip Modern: goodbye.
- Goover Go over
Always two words: "go over" means review. No closed form.
Brew tip Review the doc? Go over it — two words.
- Gothrough Go through
Always two words: "go through" means experience or endure. No closed form.
Brew tip Experiencing difficulty? You're going through it — two words.
- Healthcare Health care
HEALTHCARE (one) is now standard for the industry. HEALTH CARE (two) is the older form, still used by some style guides.
Brew tip Industry: healthcare. AP: health care.
- Highkey High-key
Both informal. "High-key" with a hyphen is the dictionary-listed form; "highkey" (closed) is internet style.
Brew tip Edited writing: high-key. Texts: highkey.
- Holdon Hold on
Always two words as a verb: "hold on" (wait). The noun "hold-on" is nonstandard.
Brew tip Telling someone to wait? Hold on — two words.
- Holdup Hold up
"Holdup" is the noun — a delay or a robbery. "Hold up" is the verb — wait or support.
Brew tip The event = one word. The action = two.
- Homepage Home page
HOMEPAGE (one word) is now common. HOME PAGE (two words) was the original form.
Brew tip Modern: homepage. Older: home page.
- Hone in Home in
"Home in" (two words) = to zero in on a target. "Hone in" is the wrong verb — hone means to sharpen.
Brew tip Missiles home in on a target; knives are honed.
- Infact In fact
IN FACT is two words. INFACT (one word) is non-standard.
Brew tip Always two words.
- Into In to
"Into" shows motion. "In to" is "in" followed by an infinitive or particle — "came in to say hi."
Brew tip If you can pause after "in" without changing meaning, it's two words.
- Lagbehind Lag
"Lag behind" is a redundancy — lag already means falling behind. One word does the job.
Brew tip "Lag" already means behind. "Lag behind" doubles up.
- Login Log in
"Login" (noun/adj): the screen, the credentials. "Log in" (verb): to sign in.
Brew tip Noun = one word. Verb = two. "Enter your login to log in."
- Login Log in
LOGIN (one word) is the noun ("the login screen"). LOG IN (two words) is the verb ("please log in").
Brew tip Verb takes a space.
- Logon Log on
LOGON (one) is the noun (rare, technical). LOG ON (two) is the verb.
Brew tip Same login pattern.
- Logout Log out
LOGOUT (one) is the noun. LOG OUT (two) is the verb.
Brew tip Verb takes a space.
- Lookinto Look into
Always two words: "look into." There's no closed form in standard English.
Brew tip Phrasal verbs with "into" and "onto" never fuse with the base verb.
- Lookover Look over
"Look over" is the verb (review). There is no standard noun "lookover."
Brew tip If you mean "review" or "inspect," keep them apart.
- Lookup Look up
"Lookup" is the noun/adjective (a lookup table). "Look up" is the verb (look it up).
Brew tip If you can split with a pronoun — "look it up" — it's two words.
- Lookupto Look up to
Always three words: "look up to." No closed form exists — the phrasal verb is admire.
Brew tip If it means admire, write all three words separately.
- Lowkey Low-key
Same case as "high-key." Hyphen is standard; closed form is internet usage.
Brew tip Edited writing: low-key. Texts: lowkey.
- Makeup Make up
"Makeup" is the noun (cosmetics, composition). "Make up" is the verb (reconcile, invent).
Brew tip If "they" or "he" or "she" can do it, it's two words.
- Makeup Make up
Same rule as the reconcile sense: the noun is one word; the verb is two.
Brew tip "He made up a story" — verb, two words. The story is a makeup — no, it's fiction.
- Meanwhile Mean while
MEANWHILE is one word. MEAN WHILE is wrong as an adverb (the two-word form survives only in literary phrasing like "in the mean while").
Brew tip Always one word.
- Nobody No body
"Nobody" = no person. "No body" means literally no physical body.
Brew tip Unless you mean an actual body, it's one word.
- Noone No one
NO ONE is two words. NOONE (one word, looks like "noon") is non-standard. NO-ONE with a hyphen is acceptable in UK English.
Brew tip US: no one. UK: no-one OK.
- Ongoing On-going
ONGOING (one word, no hyphen) is correct. ON-GOING with a hyphen is non-standard; ON GOING two words is wrong.
Brew tip One word, no hyphen.
- Online On-line
ONLINE (one word) is universal. ON-LINE with a hyphen is obsolete.
Brew tip One word, no hyphen.
- Onto On to
"Onto" shows movement to a surface. "On to" is phrasal — "move on to the next step."
Brew tip Try adding "up" before it: "up onto the stage" works; "up on to the next step" doesn't.
- Overall Over-all
"Overall" is the modern spelling for every sense. "Over-all" is a dated variant.
Brew tip Drop the hyphen — it's been one word for decades.
- Overconfident Over-confident
Modern English closes it up: "overconfident," no hyphen. The hyphen is dated.
Brew tip Most OVER- compounds (overreact, overrule, overwork) are one word.
- Passaway Pass away
Always two words: "pass away" (die). No closed form.
Brew tip The euphemism is two words — always.
- Passingout Passing out
Always two words. In Indian English "passing out" = graduating; in US English = fainting. Same form either way.
Brew tip Two words in both meanings; meaning comes from context.
- Passout Pass out
Two words as a verb: "pass out" (faint, or distribute). "Passout" as a noun is British slang only.
Brew tip Fainting? Two words: pass out.
- Pickup Pick up
PICKUP (one) is the noun (a pickup truck, a pickup line). PICK UP (two) is the verb.
Brew tip Truck = one word. Action = two.
- Putoff Put off
"Put off" is the verb (postpone). The noun "put-off" (hyphen) is rare and dated.
Brew tip As a verb — always two words. "Let's put it off."
- Putupwith Put up with
Always three words: "put up with." No closed form — the phrasal verb means tolerate.
Brew tip Tolerating something takes three words, not one.
- Runbyme Run by me
Always three words: "run it by me" (show, propose). No closed form.
Brew tip Want a look? Run it by me — three words.
- Runinto Run into
Always two words: "run into" (encounter). Don't confuse with the preposition "into."
Brew tip Bumping into someone? You ran into them — two words.
- Runoutof Run out of
Always three words: "run out of" (exhaust, use up). A fixed phrasal idiom.
Brew tip Out of coffee? You ran out of it — three words.
- Setup Set up
"Setup" is the noun (the whole setup). "Set up" is the verb (she set it up).
Brew tip If a subject did it, it's two words. If it's a thing, one word.
- Setup Set up
"Setup" (noun/adj): the arrangement. "Set up" (verb): to arrange.
Brew tip Noun = one word. Verb = two. "I set up the setup."