arrivervsarrivésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: arriver is a verb, arrivés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#839
“arriver” frequency rank
#3,735
“arrivés” frequency rank
4574
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arriver arrivés
Definition Parvenir à destination. Masculin pluriel de arrivé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set arriver and arrivés apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
arriver
7 ch
arrivés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: arriver and arrivés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \a.ʁi.ve\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4574, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arriver is recorded at frequency rank #839, classified as averb, pronounced \a.ʁi.ve\. arrivés is at rank #3,735, 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 4574, this pair ranks #431,260 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of arriver vs arrivés

Shared letters: airv. Private to "arriver": e. Private to "arrivés": .

"arriver" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "arrivés" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • arriverarirver · ariver · arrievr · arriverr · arrivre · arrivver · arrvier · rariver

Frequency comparison

arriver#839
arrivés#3,735

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "arriver" and "arrivés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "arriver" is a verb and "arrivés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "arriver" or "arrivés"?
"arriver" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #839 in our French list, against #3,735 for "arrivés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering arriver vs arrivés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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