bottleneck
"bottleneck" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bottleneck” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #29,940 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #29,940
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The narrow portion that forms the pouring spout of a bottle; the neck of a bottle.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bottleneck |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #29,940 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bottleneck” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bottleneck is 10 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #29,940 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for bottleneck, with forms such as "bbottleneck", "botleneck", and "botlteneck". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From bottle + neck. The correct English form is bottleneck, spelled B-O-T-T-L-E-N-E-C-K.
Definition
- 1The narrow portion that forms the pouring spout of a bottle; the neck of a bottle.
- 2The narrow portion that forms the pouring spout of a bottle; the neck of a bottle.
- 3In traffic, any narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay.
- 4The part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome.
Etymology
From bottle + neck.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbottleneck,botleneck,botlteneck,bottelneck,bottleenck,bottlencek,bottlenecck,bottleneckk,bottlenekc,bottlenneck,bottlleneck,bottlneeck,btotleneck,obttleneck
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bottleneck - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "bottleneck"?
What does "bottleneck" mean?
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Using “bottleneck”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-O-T-T-L-E-N-E-C-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.