Which to use
“arrêtais” and “arrivais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,981
- “arrêtais” frequency rank
- #12,907
- “arrivais” frequency rank
- 46888
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arrêtais | arrivais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe arrêter. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe arriver. |
Where the eye mixes arrêtais and arrivais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. arrêtais and arrivais follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between arrêtais and arrivais
A purely visual mix-up. arrêtais (\a.ʁɛ.tɛ\) and arrivais (\a.ʁi.vɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46888, 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\. arrivais is at rank #12,907, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.ʁi.vɛ\.
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 46888, this pair ranks #191,255 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of arrêtais vs arrivais
Shared letters: airs. Private to "arrêtais": tê. Private to "arrivais": v.
"arrêtais" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC · "arrivais" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- arrivais ← arirvais · arivais · arriavis · arrivaiss · arrivasi · arrivias · arrivvais · arrviais
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "arrêtais" for "arrivais" ever safe?
Frequency check: "arrêtais" vs "arrivais" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "arrêtais" and "arrivais" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "arrêtais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "arrivais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #191,255 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arrêtais" and "arrivais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arrêtais vs arrêterais". 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 #191,255 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.