# playoff

> English word · Noun · frequency rank #5,824

## Definitions
1. A final game in a series needed to break a tie.
2. A short series of games to select a league champion.
3. A short series of games to select the last team to be promoted (to elevate to a higher league).
4. A short piece of underscore played during a scene transition in a stage musical, usually reprising a song from the preceding scene.

## Etymology
Deverbal from play off; by surface analysis, play + -off.

## Common misspellings (9)
`lpayoff`, `palyoff`, `plaoyff`, `playfof`, `playof`, `playyoff`, `pllayoff`, `plyaoff`, `pplayoff`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/playoff