arrêtantvsarrêtentWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: arrêtant is a noun, arrêtent is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“arrêtant” is a noun and “arrêtent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,744
“arrêtant” frequency rank
#7,275
“arrêtent” frequency rank
27019
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arrêtant arrêtent
Definition Pièce de bois ou de métal pour arrêter le crochet, etc. Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe arrêter.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set arrêtant and arrêtent apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
arrêtant
8 ch
arrêtent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: arrêtant is \a.ʁɛ.tɑ̃\ while arrêtent is \a.ʁɛt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “arrêtant” becomes e in “arrêtent”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arrêtant is recorded at frequency rank #19,744, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.ʁɛ.tɑ̃\. arrêtent is at rank #7,275, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.ʁɛt\.

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 27019, this pair ranks #331,506 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of arrêtant vs arrêtent

Shared letters: anrtê. Private to "arrêtant": -. Private to "arrêtent": e.

"arrêtant" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC  ·  "arrêtent" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC

Frequency comparison

arrêtant#19,744
arrêtent#7,275

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "arrêtant" and "arrêtent" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "arrêtant" is a noun and "arrêtent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "arrêtant" or "arrêtent"?
"arrêtent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,275 in our French list, against #19,744 for "arrêtant". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering arrêtant vs arrêtent

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “arrêtant”; for a verb, it's “arrêtent”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “arrêtant” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list