mettre au point

\mɛ.tʁ‿o pwɛ̃\

/\mɛ.tʁ‿o pwɛ̃\/ verb

The verdict

“mettre au point” 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) - Augmenter ou diminuer le tirage de l’objectif, de manière que l’image soit le plus nette possible.

Key facts for mettre au point
PropertyValue
Headwordmettre au point
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\mɛ.tʁ‿o pwɛ̃\
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “mettre au point” sits in French frequency

mettre au point 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 mettre au point is 15 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \mɛ.tʁ‿o pwɛ̃\. 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.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for mettre au point, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

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 mettre au point, spelled M-E-T-T-R-E- -A-U- -P-O-I-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Augmenter ou diminuer le tirage de l’objectif, de manière que l’image soit le plus nette possible.
  2. 2
    Amener à l’état voulu ou prévu, en parlant d'une chose.

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 "mettre au point"?
"mettre au point" is spelled M-E-T-T-R-E- -A-U- -P-O-I-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is \mɛ.tʁ‿o pwɛ̃\.
What does "mettre au point" mean?
As a verb, "mettre au point" means: Augmenter ou diminuer le tirage de l’objectif, de manière que l’image soit le plus nette possible.
How do you pronounce "mettre au point"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mettre au point" is \mɛ.tʁ‿o pwɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "mettre au point" come from?
"mettre au point" 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 “mettre au point”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is M-E-T-T-R-E- -A-U- -P-O-I-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \mɛ.tʁ‿o pwɛ̃\ (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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list