Which to use
“arriva” is a verb and “arrivé” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,344
- “arriva” frequency rank
- #995
- “arrivé” frequency rank
- 12339
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arriva | arrivé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple du verbe arriver. | Qui est arrivé. |
Where the eye mixes arriva and arrivé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses arriva with arrivé
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: arriva is \a.ʁi.va\ while arrivé is \a.ʁi.ve\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “arriva” becomes é in “arrivé”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12339, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
arriva is recorded at frequency rank #11,344, classified as averb, pronounced \a.ʁi.va\. 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 12339, this pair ranks #405,672 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of arriva vs arrivé
Shared letters: airv. Private to "arriva": -. Private to "arrivé": é.
"arriva" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "arrivé" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- arriva ← arirva · ariva · arriav · arrivva · arrvia · rariva
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "arriva" for "arrivé" ever safe?
Which is more common, "arriva" or "arrivé"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "arriva" 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 #405,672 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arriva" and "arrivé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arriva vs arrivage". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #405,672 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.