au lieu que

\o ljø kə\

/\o ljø kə\/ conj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“au lieu que” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a conjunction. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Marque une opposition entre deux actions, entre deux états.

Key facts for au lieu que
PropertyValue
Headwordau lieu que
LanguageFrench
Part of speechConjunction
IPA\o ljø kə\
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “au lieu que” sits in French frequency

au lieu que falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

au lieu que is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as aconjunction, transcribed \o ljø kə\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Marque une opposition entre deux actions, entre deux états.".

au lieu que has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is au lieu que, spelled A-U- -L-I-E-U- -Q-U-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Marque une opposition entre deux actions, entre deux états.

Synonyms

alors quetandis que

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 "au lieu que"?
"au lieu que" is spelled A-U- -L-I-E-U- -Q-U-E. The IPA pronunciation is \o ljø kə\.
What does "au lieu que" mean?
As a conjunction, "au lieu que" means: Marque une opposition entre deux actions, entre deux états.
How do you pronounce "au lieu que"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "au lieu que" is \o ljø kə\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "au lieu que" come from?
"au lieu que" 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.

Using “au lieu que”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is A-U- -L-I-E-U- -Q-U-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \o ljø kə\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list