gooseneck
/ˈɡusˌnɛk/
"gooseneck" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“gooseneck” is uncommon English (frequency #97,074 among 18,276 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #97,074
- frequency rank, English
- 18,276
- “G” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Anything with a slender curved shape, resembling the neck of a goose, such as the shaft of some lamps.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | gooseneck |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɡusˌnɛk/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #97,074 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “gooseneck” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
gooseneck is uncommon English at frequency #97,074 among 18,276 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɡusˌnɛk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
gooseneck doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From goose + neck. The correct English form is gooseneck, spelled G-O-O-S-E-N-E-C-K.
Definition
- 1Anything with a slender curved shape, resembling the neck of a goose, such as the shaft of some lamps.
- 2The swivel connection on a sailboat located near the bottom of the mast that the boom attaches to. When a sailboat performs a tack or a jibe the gooseneck swings the boom from one side of the boat to the other.
- 3Ellipsis of gooseneck barnacle.
- 4Ellipsis of gooseneck loosestrife.
Etymology
From goose + neck.
This word in other languages
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
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Using “gooseneck”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-O-O-S-E-N-E-C-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɡusˌnɛk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.