in back of

prep

"in-back-of" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“in back of” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a preposition. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - behind, back of

Corpus desk

Index EN-in-back-of · in back of · English

in back of · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "I" 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.

Key facts for in back of
PropertyValue
Headwordin back of
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechPreposition
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “in back of” in English

in back ofranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

in back of is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as apreposition. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "behind, back of".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for in back of, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: By analogy with in front of. The correct English form is in back of, spelled I-N- -B-A-C-K- -O-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    behind, back of

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how in back of appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. There is a tool shed (in) back of the house.

Etymology

By analogy with in front of.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "in back of"?
"in back of" is spelled I-N- -B-A-C-K- -O-F.
What does "in back of" mean?
As a preposition, "in back of" means: behind, back of
What is the origin of the word "in back of"?
By analogy with in front of. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list