jouer la montre

\ʒwe la mɔ̃tʁ\

/\ʒwe la mɔ̃tʁ\/ verb

The verdict

“jouer la montre” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Cesser d’attaquer, ralentir le rythme pour préserver sans risque un résultat favorable jusqu’à la fin du match.

Key facts for jouer la montre
PropertyValue
Headwordjouer la montre
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ʒwe la mɔ̃tʁ\
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “jouer la montre” sits in French frequency

jouer la montre 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.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for jouer la montre is 15 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ʒwe la mɔ̃tʁ\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No misspelling variants are generated for jouer la montre in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is jouer la montre, spelled J-O-U-E-R- -L-A- -M-O-N-T-R-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Cesser d’attaquer, ralentir le rythme pour préserver sans risque un résultat favorable jusqu’à la fin du match.
  2. 2
    Chercher à gagner du temps par l’inaction ou des moyens déloyaux dans l’espoir de se sortir d’une mauvaise situation.

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.

Cite this page

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:

PlainSpell, “jouer la montre, French word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/fr/mot/jouer-la-montre

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "jouer la montre"?
"jouer la montre" is spelled J-O-U-E-R- -L-A- -M-O-N-T-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ʒwe la mɔ̃tʁ\.
What does "jouer la montre" mean?
As a verb, "jouer la montre" means: Cesser d’attaquer, ralentir le rythme pour préserver sans risque un résultat favorable jusqu’à la fin du match.
How do you pronounce "jouer la montre"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "jouer la montre" is \ʒwe la mɔ̃tʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "jouer la montre" come from?
"jouer la montre" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 “jouer la montre”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is J-O-U-E-R- -L-A- -M-O-N-T-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \ʒwe la mɔ̃tʁ\ (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

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter J in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list