arrêté vs arriéré, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“arrêté” and “arriéré” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,018
“arrêté” frequency rank: #37,661
“arriéré” frequency rank: 38679
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	arrêté	arriéré
Definition	Qui est immobile, immuable.	Qui est en retard.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set arrêté and arriéré apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

arrêté

7 ch

arriéré

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. arrêté (\a.ʁɛ.te\) and arriéré (\a.ʁje.ʁe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38679, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arrêté is recorded at frequency rank #1,018, classified as anadj, pronounced \a.ʁɛ.te\. arriéré is at rank #37,661, tagged as anadj, pronounced \a.ʁje.ʁe\.

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 38679, this pair ranks #253,579 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of arrêté vs arriéré

Shared letters: aré. Private to "arrêté": tê. Private to "arriéré": i.

"arrêté" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "arriéré" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCV

Frequency comparison

arrêté#1,018

arriéré#37,661

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "arrêté" and "arriéré" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\a.ʁɛ.te\ versus \a.ʁje.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "arrêté" or "arriéré"?

"arrêté" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,018 in our French list, against #37,661 for "arriéré". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering arrêté vs arriéré

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “arrêté” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable