ArlettevsarrêtéeConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#31,348
“Arlette” frequency rank
#6,680
“arrêtée” frequency rank
38028
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Arlette arrêtée
Definition Prénom féminin. Féminin singulier de arrêté.

Where the eye mixes Arlette and arrêtée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Arlette (VCCVCCV) and arrêtée (VCCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
Arlette
7 ch
arrêtée

Why the eye confuses Arlette with arrêtée

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Arlette is \aʁ.lɛt\ while arrêtée is \a.ʁɛ.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38028, 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\. 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 38028, this pair ranks #258,205 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Arlette vs arrêtée

Shared letters: aert. Private to "Arlette": l. Private to "arrêtée": éê.

"Arlette" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "arrêtée" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Arlette ← alrette · areltte · arlete · arletet · arllette · arltete · arrlette · ralette

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Arlette" and "arrêtée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Arlette" is a name and "arrêtée" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Arlette" vs "arrêtée" - which ranks higher?
"arrêtée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,680 in our French list, against #31,348 for "Arlette". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Arlette" 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 #258,205 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Arlette" and "arrêtée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "amulette vs Arlette". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #258,205 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list