achetéesvsarrêtéesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: achetées is a verb, arrêtées is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“achetées” is a verb and “arrêtées” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,635
“achetées” frequency rank
#15,091
“arrêtées” frequency rank
33726
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature achetées arrêtées
Definition Participe passé féminin pluriel du verbe acheter. Féminin pluriel de arrêté.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set achetées and arrêtées apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
achetées
8 ch
arrêtées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: achetées is \a.ʃə.te\ while arrêtées is \a.ʁɛ.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33726, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

achetées is recorded at frequency rank #18,635, classified as averb, pronounced \a.ʃə.te\. arrêtées is at rank #15,091, tagged as anadj, pronounced \a.ʁɛ.te\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 33726, this pair ranks #288,698 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of achetées vs arrêtées

Shared letters: aesté. Private to "achetées": ch. Private to "arrêtées": .

"achetées" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC  ·  "arrêtées" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC

Frequency comparison

achetées#18,635
arrêtées#15,091

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "achetées" and "arrêtées" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "achetées" is a verb and "arrêtées" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "achetées" or "arrêtées"?
"arrêtées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,091 in our French list, against #18,635 for "achetées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering achetées vs arrêtées

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “achetées”; for an adjective, it's “arrêtées”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “achetées” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list