à la place de

\a la plas də\

/\a la plas də\/ prep

The verdict

“à la place de” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a preposition. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - À l’emplacement désigné.

Corpus desk

Index FR-a-la-place-de · à la place de · French

à la place de · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "À" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for à la place de
PropertyValue
Headwordà la place de
LanguageFrench
Part of speechPreposition
IPA\a la plas də\
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « à la place de » en français

à la place dereste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

à la place de is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as apreposition, transcribed \a la plas də\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for à la place de, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is à la place de, spelled À- -L-A- -P-L-A-C-E- -D-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    À l’emplacement désigné.
  2. 2
    Au lieu de (le plus souvent suivi par un nom animé).
  3. 3
    En remplacement de.
  4. 4
    Si le sujet était la personne mentionnée.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how à la place de appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Pour les canards, elle fit creuser une mare à la place d’un bosquet de lilas.
  2. Que va-t-il raconter ce franchimand ? J'aimerais bien mieux, à la place de son babillage, une belle chanson comme tu sais si bien les faire. Tu devrais y penser, dis, collègue ?

Synonyms

à la place

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "à la place de"?
"à la place de" is spelled À- -L-A- -P-L-A-C-E- -D-E. The IPA pronunciation is \a la plas də\.
What does "à la place de" mean?
As a preposition, "à la place de" means: À l’emplacement désigné.
How do you pronounce "à la place de"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "à la place de" is \a la plas də\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "à la place de" come from?
"à la place de" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list