agrafevsarabeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“agrafe” and “arabe” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,312
“agrafe” frequency rank
#1,898
“arabe” frequency rank
50210
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature agrafe arabe
Definition Petit accessoire métallique servant à réunir deux éléments d’un même objet. Langue sémitique parlée autrefois par les bédouins d’Arabie et, en particulier, par le prophète Mahomet.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set agrafe and arabe apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
agrafe
5 ch
arabe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. agrafe (\a.ɡʁaf\) and arabe (\a.ʁab\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50210, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

agrafe is recorded at frequency rank #48,312, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.ɡʁaf\. arabe is at rank #1,898, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.ʁab\.

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 50210, this pair ranks #164,425 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of agrafe vs arabe

Shared letters: aer. Private to "agrafe": fg. Private to "arabe": b.

"agrafe" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "arabe" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • agrafeagarfe · aggrafe · agraef · agraffe · agrfae · agrrafe · argafe · garafe
  • arabeaarbe · arabbe · araeb · arbae · arrabe · raabe

Frequency comparison

agrafe#48,312
arabe#1,898

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "agrafe" and "arabe" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.ɡʁaf\ versus \a.ʁab\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "agrafe" or "arabe"?
"arabe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,898 in our French list, against #48,312 for "agrafe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering agrafe vs arabe

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “agrafe” 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