nek
"nek" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“nek” is uncommon English (frequency #66,130 among 24,391 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #66,130
- frequency rank, English
- 24,391
- “N” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A col (a dip on a mountain ridge between two peaks).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | nek |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #66,130 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “nek” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
nek is uncommon English at frequency #66,130 among 24,391 “N” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A col (a dip on a mountain ridge between two peaks).".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for nek, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Afrikaans nek. Doublet of neck. The correct English form is nek, spelled N-E-K.
Definition
- 1A col (a dip on a mountain ridge between two peaks).
Etymology
Borrowed from Afrikaans nek. Doublet of neck.
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 “nek”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-E-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.