also-ran
"also-ran" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“also-ran” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. 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) - A person or animal who competed in a race, or other competition, but did not win.
Corpus desk
Index EN-also-ran · also-ran · English
also-ran · 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 "A" 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 | also-ran |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “also-ran” in English
Rare enough to double-check
also-ran is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for also-ran, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the world of horse race betting, where lists of winners would be published with non-paying positions printed in a block under the heading “Also Ran”. The correct English form is also-ran, spelled A-L-S-O---R-A-N.
Definition
- 1A person or animal who competed in a race, or other competition, but did not win.
- 2A loser; a person or thing soon to be forgotten.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how also-ran appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
It also turned Palmer from an also-ran into a challenger.
I have 37 actors and actresses I would supply for television and radio work and then I have maybe 150 to 200 also-rans who get extra work and television commercials.
Etymology
From the world of horse race betting, where lists of winners would be published with non-paying positions printed in a block under the heading “Also Ran”.
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.