Metastatic squamous carcinoma of the head and neck may rarely present as a cyst in the cervical region. The true incidence of metastatic cystic neck mass is unknown. It is difficult to differentiate metastatic cystic neck mass from congenital cystic neck mass with physical examination and fine needle aspiration biopsy. So the differential diagnosis is dependent on the age of the patient, and therefore in the patient over the 40 years of age, the possibility of a metastatic neck mass should be considered. We report a metastatic cystic neck mass which had been misdiagnosed as a branchial cleft cyst.