Which to use
“arrêtaient” and “arrêtais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,228
- “arrêtaient” frequency rank
- #33,981
- “arrêtais” frequency rank
- 63209
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arrêtaient | arrêtais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe arrêter. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe arrêter. |
Same sound, different letters: arrêtaient vs arrêtais
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. arrêtaient runs 10 letters (VCCVCVVVCC) against arrêtais's 8 (VCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - arrêtaient and arrêtais
This is the hard kind. arrêtaient and arrêtais are pronounced identically (\a.ʁɛ.tɛ\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63209, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
arrêtaient is recorded at frequency rank #29,228, classified as averb, pronounced \a.ʁɛ.tɛ\. arrêtais is at rank #33,981, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.ʁɛ.tɛ\.
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 63209, this pair ranks #83,194 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of arrêtaient vs arrêtais
Shared letters: airtê. Private to "arrêtaient": en. Private to "arrêtais": s.
"arrêtaient" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVVVCC · "arrêtais" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "arrêtaient" and "arrêtais" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "arrêtaient" or "arrêtais" show up more?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "arrêtaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "arrêtais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #83,194 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arrêtaient" and "arrêtais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arrêtais vs arrêterais". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #83,194 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.