next to last
"next-to-last" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“next to last” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Penultimate, one before the end of a series, placed immediately before the end in a sequence.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | next to last |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “next to last” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
next to last is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Penultimate, one before the end of a series, placed immediately before the end in a sequence.".
Zero misspellings are on record for next to last in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. 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 entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is next to last, spelled N-E-X-T- -T-O- -L-A-S-T.
Definition
- 1Penultimate, one before the end of a series, placed immediately before the end in a sequence.
Synonyms
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
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Using “next to last”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-E-X-T- -T-O- -L-A-S-T - 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.