aravsarabeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#29,225
“ara” frequency rank
#1,898
“arabe” frequency rank
31123
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ara arabe
Definition Nom normalisé donné à six genres de grands oiseaux de la famille des psittacidés (e.g. "vrais" perroquets, amazones, etc.), à longue queue, au plumage très coloré et aux patrons complexes, dont l’intelligence et les aptitudes vocales sont supérieures à celles de la plupart des autres membres de l’ordre des psittaciformes, et qui fréquentent les forêts humides de l'écozone néotropicale, et dont plusieurs espèces sont présentement menacées de disparition (genres principaux: Ara, Anodorhynchus, Propyrrhura, etc.). 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 ara and arabe apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
ara
5 ch
arabe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. ara (\a.ʁa\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “ara” sits inside “arabe”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31123, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ara is recorded at frequency rank #29,225, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.ʁa\. 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 31123, this pair ranks #305,822 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ara vs arabe

Shared letters: ar. Private to "ara": -. Private to "arabe": be.

"ara" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "arabe" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • arabeaarbe · arabbe · araeb · arbae · arrabe · raabe

Frequency comparison

ara#29,225
arabe#1,898

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ara" and "arabe" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.ʁa\ versus \a.ʁab\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ara" or "arabe"?
"arabe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,898 in our French list, against #29,225 for "ara". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering ara 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 “ara” 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