protege
[pɾoˈt̪exe]
The verdict
“protege” is a regularly-used Spanish word, ranked #6,344 in Spanish word frequency and used as a verb.
- #6,344
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de proteger.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | protege |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [pɾoˈt̪exe] |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #6,344 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “protege” sits in Spanish frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Spanish entry for protege is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [pɾoˈt̪exe]. Corpus data places it at rank #6,344 in overall Spanish word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for protege, with forms such as "portege", "pprotege", and "proetge". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "provee", "proteja", "proteger", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct Spanish form is protege, spelled P-R-O-T-E-G-E.
Definition
- 1Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de proteger.
- 2Segunda persona del singular (tú) del imperativo afirmativo de proteger.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: portege,pprotege,proetge,proteeg,protegge,protgee,prottege,prrotege,prtoege,rpotege
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of protege - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "protege"?
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Using “protege”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is P-R-O-T-E-G-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [pɾoˈt̪exe] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “provee” - see the side-by-side comparison. protege vs provee
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish 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.