I think you mean selling naked call options. If you're selling put options, you are selling someone else the right to force you to purchase shares from them at a given price. Which means that you are long the shares and also that your downside is limited by the strike price.

Both sibling comments are completely correct, and support the parent comment (thanks!).

I got myself mixed up and was misled by a Corporate Finance Institute quote (which incorrectly notes the loss is unlimited only to contradict itself):

For the seller of a put option, things are reversed. Their potential profit is limited to the premium received for writing the put. Their potential loss is unlimited – equal to the amount by which the market price is below the option strike price, times the number of options sold.

The price of a stock can only go to zero, so the value of a put option is bounded. A put option at exercise price of $2 has a maximum value of $2 (ignoring discount rate, conditions, etcetera). There are corner cases because a stock going to zero has other implications (e.g. cannot actually trade in that stock) which can affect delivery. Matt Levine puts it nicely: “Betting on disaster is hard because, if you win, there has been a disaster, and you might not get paid.” and he writes about (under CDS heading[2]) some of the other costly risks of shorting, some of which might also apply to options.

The value of a call option is unbounded.

This link[1] has some good questions and answers about options, although it certainly isn’t complete (e.g. dividends are mentioned but voting rights are not).

[1] https://www.blackwellpublishing.com/content/kolb5thedition/c...

[2] https://news.bloombergtax.com/tax-insights-and-commentary/ma...