Which to use
“arrêté” and “arrivé” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,018
- “arrêté” frequency rank
- #995
- “arrivé” frequency rank
- 2013
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arrêté | arrivé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est immobile, immuable. | Qui est arrivé. |
Where the eye mixes arrêté and arrivé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses arrêté with arrivé
A purely visual mix-up. arrêté (\a.ʁɛ.te\) and arrivé (\a.ʁi.ve\) 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 2013, 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\. arrivé is at rank #995, tagged as anadj, pronounced \a.ʁi.ve\.
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 2013, this pair ranks #436,941 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of arrêté vs arrivé
Shared letters: aré. Private to "arrêté": tê. Private to "arrivé": iv.
"arrêté" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "arrivé" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "arrêté" for "arrivé" ever safe?
Which is more common, "arrêté" or "arrivé"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "arrêté" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "arrivé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #436,941 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arrêté" and "arrivé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arrivage vs arrivé". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #436,941 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.