Which to use
“retard” and “retards” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,936
- “retard” frequency rank
- #33,396
- “retards” frequency rank
- 51332
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retard | retards |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A retardation; a delay. | plural of retard |
Where the eye mixes retard and retards
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. retard runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against retards's 7 (CVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses retard with retards
A purely visual mix-up. retard (/ɹɪˈtɑː(ɹ)d/) and retards (/ɹɪˈtɑː(ɹ)dz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “retard” sits inside “retards”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51332, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retard is recorded at frequency rank #17,936, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈtɑː(ɹ)d/. retards is at rank #33,396, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈtɑː(ɹ)dz/.
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 51332, this pair ranks #166,388 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of retard vs retards
Shared letters: adert. Private to "retard": -. Private to "retards": s.
"retard" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "retards" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "retard" for "retards" ever safe?
Frequency check: "retard" vs "retards" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "retard" and "retards" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "retard" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retards" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #166,388 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retard" and "retards" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Renard vs retards". 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 #166,388 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.