tiebreaker

A tiebreaker is the extra game or question played to decide a contest when the score is level. Go to a tiebreaker, win the tiebreaker, a tiebreaker question.

In tennis it has a precise meaning and is usually spelled tie-break: at six games all, a tie-break decides the set, and it is first to seven points with a two-point margin. In quizzes and competitions a tiebreaker is the extra question that separates joint leaders, often a guess-the-number one. In football the equivalent is a penalty shoot-out, which is never called a tiebreaker. Note the three spellings — tiebreaker, tie-break, tiebreak — all standard, none preferred everywhere.