Which to use
“arrêtais” and “arrêtait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,981
- “arrêtais” frequency rank
- #13,512
- “arrêtait” frequency rank
- 47493
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arrêtais | arrêtait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe arrêter. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe arrêter. |
Same sound, different letters: arrêtais vs arrêtait
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. arrêtais and arrêtait follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Homophone desk: arrêtais vs arrêtait
This is the hard kind. arrêtais and arrêtait 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 a single letter - s in “arrêtais” becomes t in “arrêtait”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47493, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
arrêtais is recorded at frequency rank #33,981, classified as averb, pronounced \a.ʁɛ.tɛ\. arrêtait is at rank #13,512, 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 47493, this pair ranks #186,523 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of arrêtais vs arrêtait
Shared letters: airtê. Private to "arrêtais": s. Private to "arrêtait": -.
"arrêtais" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC · "arrêtait" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "arrêtais" and "arrêtait" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "arrêtais" or "arrêtait"?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "arrêtais" / "arrêtait". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "arrêtais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "arrêtait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #186,523 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arrêtais" and "arrêtait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arrêtais vs arrêterais". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #186,523 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.