en quelque sorte

\ɑ̃ kɛl.kə sɔʁt\

/\ɑ̃ kɛl.kə sɔʁt\/ adv

The verdict

“en quelque sorte” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
16
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Presque ; pour ainsi dire ; pratiquement.

Corpus desk

Index FR-en-quelque-sorte · en quelque sorte · French

en quelque sorte · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 16 letters
  • VOW-7 7 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "E" 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 en quelque sorte
PropertyValue
Headworden quelque sorte
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdverb
IPA\ɑ̃ kɛl.kə sɔʁt\
Letters16
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « en quelque sorte » en français

en quelque sortereste 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

en quelque sorte is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \ɑ̃ kɛl.kə sɔʁt\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Presque ; pour ainsi dire ; pratiquement.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for en quelque sorte, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is en quelque sorte, spelled E-N- -Q-U-E-L-Q-U-E- -S-O-R-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Presque ; pour ainsi dire ; pratiquement.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how en quelque sorte appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Le territoire de Mostaganem et de Mazagran comprend trois villes distinctes : Mostaganem, Matamore et Mazagran. De ces trois villes, Mostaganem est la plus importante ; Matamore en est en quelque sorte la citadelle.
  2. […], puis M. Goulden tira de l’armoire une bouteille de son vin de Metz, qu’il gardait pour les grandes circonstances, et nous soupâmes en quelque sorte comme deux camarades ; […].

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 "en quelque sorte"?
"en quelque sorte" is spelled E-N- -Q-U-E-L-Q-U-E- -S-O-R-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɑ̃ kɛl.kə sɔʁt\.
What does "en quelque sorte" mean?
As an adverb, "en quelque sorte" means: Presque ; pour ainsi dire ; pratiquement.
How do you pronounce "en quelque sorte"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "en quelque sorte" is \ɑ̃ kɛl.kə sɔʁt\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "en quelque sorte" come from?
"en quelque sorte" 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