arrêtonsvsarrêtsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: arrêtons is a verb, arrêts is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“arrêtons” is a verb and “arrêts” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,324
“arrêtons” frequency rank
#5,631
“arrêts” frequency rank
18955
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arrêtons arrêts
Definition Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe arrêter. Défense qui est faite à un officier de sortir de chez lui, ou de s’éloigner d’un lieu déterminé.

Where the spellings diverge

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

8 ch
arrêtons
6 ch
arrêts

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: arrêtons is \a.ʁɛ.tɔ̃\ while arrêts is \a.ʁɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18955, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arrêtons is recorded at frequency rank #13,324, classified as averb, pronounced \a.ʁɛ.tɔ̃\. arrêts is at rank #5,631, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.ʁɛ\.

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 18955, this pair ranks #375,755 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of arrêtons vs arrêts

Shared letters: arstê. Private to "arrêtons": no. Private to "arrêts": -.

"arrêtons" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC  ·  "arrêts" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC

Frequency comparison

arrêtons#13,324
arrêts#5,631

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "arrêtons" and "arrêts" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "arrêtons" is a verb and "arrêts" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "arrêtons" or "arrêts"?
"arrêts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,631 in our French list, against #13,324 for "arrêtons". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering arrêtons vs arrêts

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “arrêtons”; for a noun, it's “arrêts”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “arrêtons” 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