Front line or frontline?
front line is a noun meaning “A front, or a boundary between opposing positions”; frontline is an adjective meaning “Located at a front”. Use front line as a noun and frontline as an adjective (front line is also an adjective: “Alternative spelling of front line”). front line is written as two words and frontline as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between front line and frontline?
| front line | frontline | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, adjective | adjective, noun |
| Meaning | A front, or a boundary between opposing positions A site of a conflict, effort, or controversial matter of any kind | Located at a front Most advanced or important |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | not recorded |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 2.2 times per million words |
Sources: front line and frontline in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of front line and frontline
front line
- 1
A front, or a boundary between opposing positions
- 2
Alternative spelling of front line
- 3
A site of a conflict, effort, or controversial matter of any kind
- 4
The site of interaction with outsiders, such as customers
- 5
A low level
- 6
attack, collectively the attackers or forwards
frontline
- 1
Located at a front
- 2
Alternative form of front line
- 3
Most advanced or important
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, front line or frontline?
front line is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; frontline 2.2 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search front line vs frontline?
“front line vs frontline” is searched about 30 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“frontline vs front line”, “front line or frontline”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.