prendre la tête

\pʁɑ̃.dʁə la tɛːt\

/\pʁɑ̃.dʁə la tɛːt\/ verb

The verdict

“prendre la tête” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Prendre un poste de direction.

Corpus desk

Index FR-prendre-la-tete · prendre la tête · French

prendre la tête · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 15 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "P" 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 prendre la tête
PropertyValue
Headwordprendre la tête
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pʁɑ̃.dʁə la tɛːt\
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « prendre la tête » en français

prendre la têtesiège au-delà des 100.000 formes les plus fréquentes du français, dans la traîne du lexique spécialisé ou peu usité.

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

Rare enough to double-check

prendre la tête is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \pʁɑ̃.dʁə la tɛːt\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for prendre la tête in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is prendre la tête, spelled P-R-E-N-D-R-E- -L-A- -T-Ê-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Prendre un poste de direction.
  2. 2
    Se retrouver en première position d’une compétition non encore terminée.
  3. 3
    Faire perdre patience.
  4. 4
    Inquiéter vivement.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how prendre la tête appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Au début de 1840, George Sand prit la tête du mouvement saint-simonien, partisan d’un socialisme humaniste.
  2. Bordeaux gagne et prend la tête du championnat.

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 "prendre la tête"?
"prendre la tête" is spelled P-R-E-N-D-R-E- -L-A- -T-Ê-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \pʁɑ̃.dʁə la tɛːt\.
What does "prendre la tête" mean?
As a verb, "prendre la tête" means: Prendre un poste de direction.
How do you pronounce "prendre la tête"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "prendre la tête" is \pʁɑ̃.dʁə la tɛːt\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "prendre la tête" come from?
"prendre la tête" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list