agrégévsarrêtéWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#20,041
“agrégé” frequency rank
#1,018
“arrêté” frequency rank
21059
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature agrégé arrêté
Definition Se dit des parties d’une plante agglomérées sur une petite surface. Qui est immobile, immuable.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set agrégé and arrêté apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
agrégé
6 ch
arrêté

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. agrégé (\a.ɡʁe.ʒe\) and arrêté (\a.ʁɛ.te\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21059, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

agrégé is recorded at frequency rank #20,041, classified as anadj, pronounced \a.ɡʁe.ʒe\. arrêté is at rank #1,018, 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 21059, this pair ranks #365,064 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of agrégé vs arrêté

Shared letters: aré. Private to "agrégé": g. Private to "arrêté": .

"agrégé" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "arrêté" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Frequency comparison

agrégé#20,041
arrêté#1,018

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "agrégé" and "arrêté" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.ɡʁe.ʒe\ versus \a.ʁɛ.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "agrégé" or "arrêté"?
"arrêté" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,018 in our French list, against #20,041 for "agrégé". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering agrégé vs arrêté

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 “agrégé” 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