ArlesvsarrêtsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Arles is a name, arrêts is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Arles” is a name and “arrêts” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,912
“Arles” frequency rank
#5,631
“arrêts” frequency rank
17543
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Arles arrêts
Definition Commune et ville française, située dans le département des Bouches-du-Rhône. Défense qui est faite à un officier de sortir de chez lui, ou de s’éloigner d’un lieu déterminé.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
Arles
6 ch
arrêts

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Arles is \aʁl\ while arrêts is \a.ʁɛ\. 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 (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17543, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Arles is recorded at frequency rank #11,912, classified as aname, pronounced \aʁl\. arrêts is at rank #5,631, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.ʁɛ\.

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 17543, this pair ranks #382,633 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Arles vs arrêts

Shared letters: ars. Private to "Arles": el. Private to "arrêts": .

"Arles" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "arrêts" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Arlesalres · arels · arless · arlles · arlse · arrles · rales

Frequency comparison

Arles#11,912
arrêts#5,631

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Arles" and "arrêts" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Arles" is a name and "arrêts" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Arles" or "arrêts"?
"arrêts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,631 in our French list, against #11,912 for "Arles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Arles vs arrêts

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Arles”; for a noun, it's “arrêts”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Arles” 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