neck and neck
"neck-and-neck" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“neck and neck” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Very close in progress, as in a race or a contest.
Corpus desk
Index EN-neck-and-neck · neck and neck · English
neck and neck · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 13 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "N" 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 | neck and neck |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Phrase |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “neck and neck” in English
Rare enough to double-check
neck and neck is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aphrase. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Very close in progress, as in a race or a contest.".
Zero misspellings are on record for neck and neck in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Figurative, from the image of competing horses abreast in a horse race who are so even (headed for a tie) that their necks are side-by-side. The correct English form is neck and neck, spelled N-E-C-K- -A-N-D- -N-E-C-K.
Definition
- 1Very close in progress, as in a race or a contest.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how neck and neck appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The polls suggest that the candidates were neck and neck in the election.
It lay between me and Dick Riot madam; we were neck and neck for three miles, as hard as we could lay leg to ground, and running every inch, but at the first, I felt for him, found I had the foot […]
Etymology
Figurative, from the image of competing horses abreast in a horse race who are so even (headed for a tie) that their necks are side-by-side.
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.