tacharvstardarTell them apart

Which to use

“tachar” and “tardar” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#40,565
“tachar” frequency rank
#10,080
“tardar” frequency rank
50645
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tachar tardar
Definition Cruzar con una línea lo escrito, o rayarlo, para que no se pueda leer, o para que se interprete como anulado. :*Sinónimo: tarjar Ocupar más tiempo del acostumbrado en algo.

Where the eye mixes tachar and tardar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tachar and tardar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
tachar
6 ch
tardar

Why the eye confuses tachar with tardar

A purely visual mix-up. tachar ([t̪aˈt͡ʃaɾ]) and tardar ([t̪aɾˈð̞aɾ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50645, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tachar is recorded at frequency rank #40,565, classified as averb, pronounced [t̪aˈt͡ʃaɾ]. tardar is at rank #10,080, tagged as averb, pronounced [t̪aɾˈð̞aɾ].

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 50645, this pair ranks #102,088 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tachar vs tardar

Shared letters: art. Private to "tachar": ch. Private to "tardar": d.

"tachar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "tardar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tachar ← atchar · tacahr · tacchar · tacharr · tachhar · tachra · tahcar · tcahar
  • tardar ← atrdar · tadrar · taradr · tardarr · tarddar · tardra · tarrdar · tradar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tachar" for "tardar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([t̪aˈt͡ʃaɾ] versus [t̪aɾˈð̞aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "tachar" or "tardar" show up more?
"tardar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,080 in our Spanish list, against #40,565 for "tachar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tachar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tardar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #102,088 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tachar" and "tardar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tachan vs tachar". 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 #102,088 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list