Which to use
“arrêta” and “arrêter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,359
- “arrêta” frequency rank
- #733
- “arrêter” frequency rank
- 21092
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arrêta | arrêter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple du verbe arrêter. | Empêcher quelqu’un ou quelque chose de continuer son déplacement. |
Where the eye mixes arrêta and arrêter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. arrêta runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against arrêter's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: arrêta vs arrêter
A purely visual mix-up. arrêta (\a.ʁɛ.ta\) and arrêter (\a.ʁe.te\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21092, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
arrêta is recorded at frequency rank #20,359, classified as averb, pronounced \a.ʁɛ.ta\. arrêter is at rank #733, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.ʁe.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 21092, this pair ranks #364,903 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of arrêta vs arrêter
Shared letters: artê. Private to "arrêta": -. Private to "arrêter": e.
"arrêta" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "arrêter" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "arrêta" and "arrêter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "arrêta" or "arrêter"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "arrêta" and "arrêter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "arrêta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "arrêter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #364,903 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arrêta" and "arrêter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arrêta vs arrêtais". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #364,903 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.