Assuming that A1:A5 contains your data, try...

B1, copied down:

=INDEX($A$1:$A$5,MATCH(SMALL(COUNTIF($A$1:$A$5,"<" &$A$1:$A$5),ROWS($B$1:B
1)),COUNTIF($A$1:$A$5,"<"&$A$1:$A$5),0))

....confirmed with CONTROL+SHIFT+ENTER, not just ENTER.

C1, copied down:

=COUNTIF($B$1:$B$5,"<"&B1)+1

Hope this helps!

In article ,
cdavidson wrote:

I'll use a simple example...

I have 5 words I need to rank in ascending order, alphabetically.

Carrot
Peach
Apple
Salad
Banana


I would like the rank function to produce the following results:

Rank Name
------ -------
1 Apple
2 Banana
3 Carrot
4 Peach
5 Salad

How please? Many thanks.