ArlettevsarrêtéWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Arlette is a name, arrêté is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Arlette” is a name and “arrêté” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,348
“Arlette” frequency rank
#1,018
“arrêté” frequency rank
32366
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Arlette arrêté
Definition Prénom féminin. Qui est immobile, immuable.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
Arlette
6 ch
arrêté

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Arlette is \aʁ.lɛt\ while arrêté 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 (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32366, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Arlette is recorded at frequency rank #31,348, classified as aname, pronounced \aʁ.lɛt\. 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 32366, this pair ranks #297,769 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Arlette vs arrêté

Shared letters: art. Private to "Arlette": el. Private to "arrêté": éê.

"Arlette" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "arrêté" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Arlettealrette · areltte · arlete · arletet · arllette · arltete · arrlette · ralette

Frequency comparison

Arlette#31,348
arrêté#1,018

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Arlette" and "arrêté" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Arlette" is a name and "arrêté" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Arlette" or "arrêté"?
"arrêté" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,018 in our French list, against #31,348 for "Arlette". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Arlette vs arrêté

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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