# tardy vs teary

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### tardy
*adjective · IPA /ˈtɑːdi/ · frequency rank #42,446*
Late; overdue or delayed.

### teary
*adjective · IPA /ˈtɪəɹi/ · frequency rank #35,553*
Of a person, having eyes filled with tears; inclined to cry.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tardy-vs-teary