Which to use
“arrêtées” is an adjective and “arrêtons” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,091
- “arrêtées” frequency rank
- #13,324
- “arrêtons” frequency rank
- 28415
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arrêtées | arrêtons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de arrêté. | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe arrêter. |
Where the eye mixes arrêtées and arrêtons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. arrêtées (VCCVCVVC) and arrêtons (VCCVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses arrêtées with arrêtons
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: arrêtées is \a.ʁɛ.te\ 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28415, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
arrêtées is recorded at frequency rank #15,091, classified as anadj, pronounced \a.ʁɛ.te\. 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 28415, this pair ranks #322,975 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of arrêtées vs arrêtons
Shared letters: arstê. Private to "arrêtées": eé. Private to "arrêtons": no.
"arrêtées" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC · "arrêtons" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "arrêtées" for "arrêtons" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "arrêtées" or "arrêtons" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "arrêtées" 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 #322,975 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arrêtées" and "arrêtons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arrêtées vs arrosées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #322,975 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.