gratte-bottes

\ɡʁat.bɔt\

/\ɡʁat.bɔt\/ noun

The verdict

“gratte-bottes” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Lame de fer fixée à l’entrée d’une maison pour que les personnes qui viennent du dehors y grattent la semelle de leurs chaussures avant d’entrer.

Key facts for gratte-bottes
PropertyValue
Headwordgratte-bottes
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɡʁat.bɔt\
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “gratte-bottes” sits in French frequency

gratte-bottes 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

gratte-bottes is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ɡʁat.bɔt\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Lame de fer fixée à l’entrée d’une maison pour que les personnes qui viennent du dehors y grattent la semelle de leurs chaussures avant d’entrer.".

gratte-bottes has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is gratte-bottes, spelled G-R-A-T-T-E---B-O-T-T-E-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Lame de fer fixée à l’entrée d’une maison pour que les personnes qui viennent du dehors y grattent la semelle de leurs chaussures avant d’entrer.

Synonyms

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 "gratte-bottes"?
"gratte-bottes" is spelled G-R-A-T-T-E---B-O-T-T-E-S. The IPA pronunciation is \ɡʁat.bɔt\.
What does "gratte-bottes" mean?
As a noun, "gratte-bottes" means: Lame de fer fixée à l’entrée d’une maison pour que les personnes qui viennent du dehors y grattent la semelle de leurs chaussures avant d’entrer.
How do you pronounce "gratte-bottes"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "gratte-bottes" is \ɡʁat.bɔt\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "gratte-bottes" come from?
"gratte-bottes" 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 “gratte-bottes”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is G-R-A-T-T-E---B-O-T-T-E-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \ɡʁat.bɔt\ (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