keep an eye on

verb

"keep-an-eye-on" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“keep an eye on” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To watch and pay attention to, in case of misbehaviour or mishap.

Key facts for keep an eye on
PropertyValue
Headwordkeep an eye on
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “keep an eye on” sits in English frequency

keep an eye on falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

keep an eye on is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To watch and pay attention to, in case of misbehaviour or mishap.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for keep an eye on, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is keep an eye on, spelled K-E-E-P- -A-N- -E-Y-E- -O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    To watch and pay attention to, in case of misbehaviour or mishap.

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "keep an eye on"?
"keep an eye on" is spelled K-E-E-P- -A-N- -E-Y-E- -O-N.
What does "keep an eye on" mean?
As a verb, "keep an eye on" means: To watch and pay attention to, in case of misbehaviour or mishap.
What language does "keep an eye on" come from?
"keep an eye on" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Using “keep an eye on”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is K-E-E-P- -A-N- -E-Y-E- -O-N - 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list