Which to use
“arrêtant” is a noun and “arrêtons” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,744
- “arrêtant” frequency rank
- #13,324
- “arrêtons” frequency rank
- 33068
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arrêtant | arrêtons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pièce de bois ou de métal pour arrêter le crochet, etc. | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe arrêter. |
Where the eye mixes arrêtant and arrêtons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. arrêtant and arrêtons follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between arrêtant and arrêtons
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: arrêtant is \a.ʁɛ.tɑ̃\ while arrêtons is \a.ʁɛ.tɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33068, 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\. arrêtons is at rank #13,324, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.ʁɛ.tɔ̃\.
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 33068, this pair ranks #293,055 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of arrêtant vs arrêtons
Shared letters: anrtê. Private to "arrêtant": -. Private to "arrêtons": os.
"arrêtant" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC · "arrêtons" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "arrêtant" for "arrêtons" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "arrêtant" or "arrêtons" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "arrêtant" and "arrêtons" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "arrêtant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "arrêtons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #293,055 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arrêtant" and "arrêtons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arrêterons vs arrêtons". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #293,055 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.