Which to use
“arêtes” is a noun and “arrêtée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,766
- “arêtes” frequency rank
- #6,680
- “arrêtée” frequency rank
- 30446
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arêtes | arrêtée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de arête. | Féminin singulier de arrêté. |
Where the eye mixes arêtes and arrêtée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. arêtes runs 6 letters (VCVCVC) against arrêtée's 7 (VCCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses arêtes with arrêtée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: arêtes is \a.ʁɛt\ while arrêtée is \a.ʁɛ.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30446, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
arêtes is recorded at frequency rank #23,766, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.ʁɛt\. arrêtée is at rank #6,680, 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 30446, this pair ranks #310,277 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of arêtes vs arrêtée
Shared letters: aertê. Private to "arêtes": s. Private to "arrêtée": é.
"arêtes" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "arrêtée" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "arêtes" for "arrêtée" ever safe?
Frequency check: "arêtes" vs "arrêtée" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "arêtes" and "arrêtée" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "arêtes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "arrêtée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #310,277 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arêtes" and "arrêtée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arêtes vs Artis". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #310,277 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.