arrêtéevsarrêterWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: arrêtée is a adjective, arrêter is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“arrêtée” is an adjective and “arrêter” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,680
“arrêtée” frequency rank
#733
“arrêter” frequency rank
7413
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arrêtée arrêter
Definition Féminin singulier de arrêté. Empêcher quelqu’un ou quelque chose de continuer son déplacement.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set arrêtée and arrêter apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
arrêtée
7 ch
arrêter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

arrêtée and arrêter form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7413, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arrêtée is recorded at frequency rank #6,680, classified as anadj, pronounced \a.ʁɛ.te\. arrêter is at rank #733, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.ʁe.te\.

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 7413, this pair ranks #423,241 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

arrêtée#6,680
arrêter#733

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "arrêtée" and "arrêter" be used interchangeably?
No, "arrêtée" and "arrêter" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering arrêtée vs arrêter

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “arrêtée”; for a verb, it's “arrêter”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “arrêtée” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list