près de

\pʁɛ də\

/\pʁɛ də\/ prep

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“près de” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a preposition - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - À proximité de, dans l’espace ou dans le temps.

Key facts for près de
PropertyValue
Headwordprès de
LanguageFrench
Part of speechPreposition
IPA\pʁɛ də\
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “près de” sits in French frequency

près de 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 près de is 7 letters long, classified as a preposition, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \pʁɛ də\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

près de doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is près de, spelled P-R-È-S- -D-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    À proximité de, dans l’espace ou dans le temps.
  2. 2
    Presque parvenu à, sur le point de
  3. 3
    Presque.

Synonyms

proche delès

Antonyms

loin de

This word in other languages

near(English)cerca de(Español)rund(Deutsch)

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 "près de"?
"près de" is spelled P-R-È-S- -D-E. The IPA pronunciation is \pʁɛ də\.
What does "près de" mean?
As a preposition, "près de" means: À proximité de, dans l’espace ou dans le temps.
How do you pronounce "près de"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "près de" is \pʁɛ də\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "près de" come from?
"près de" 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 “près de”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is P-R-È-S- -D-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \pʁɛ də\ (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