back line
"back-line" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“back line” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Collectively, the defenders of a team.
Corpus desk
Index EN-back-line · back line · English
back line · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" 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 | back line |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “back line” in English
Rare enough to double-check
back line is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
back line has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is back line, spelled B-A-C-K- -L-I-N-E.
Definition
- 1Collectively, the defenders of a team.
- 2The line running across the goal to the corners of the playing field.
- 3The players known as the backs, whose primary responsibility is defense.
- 4The imaginary tactical line across the field that passes through the backs, through their primary line of attack/defence (i.e. excluding any players in a more backward defensive position).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how back line appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Battling Bolton disputed the goal, claiming Drogba was offside, but the Ivorian appeared to have timed his angled run across the visitors back line to perfection to race onto a fine Michael Essien pass and ensure Chelsea moved back into fourth place in the Premier League.
A running fullback radically improves the attacking prowess of any back line, particularly if she is able to read a play, knowing when it's time to hit the line at pace or to join the line to act as an extra attacker.
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.