tardanvstardasTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#14,972
“tardan” frequency rank
#31,134
“tardas” frequency rank
46106
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tardan tardas
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de tardar. Forma del femenino plural de tardo.

Where the eye mixes tardan and tardas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tardan and tardas follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
tardan
6 ch
tardas

Why the eye confuses tardan with tardas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tardan is [ˈt̪aɾð̞ãn] while tardas is [ˈt̪aɾð̞as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “tardan” becomes s in “tardas”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46106, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tardan is recorded at frequency rank #14,972, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈt̪aɾð̞ãn]. tardas is at rank #31,134, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt̪aɾð̞as].

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 46106, this pair ranks #127,623 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tardan vs tardas

Shared letters: adrt. Private to "tardan": n. Private to "tardas": s.

"tardan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "tardas" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tardan ← atrdan · tadran · taradn · tardann · tarddan · tardna · tarrdan · tradan
  • tardas ← atrdas · tadras · tarads · tardass · tarddas · tardsa · tarrdas · tradas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tardan" for "tardas" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tardan" is a verb and "tardas" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tardan" or "tardas"?
"tardan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,972 in our Spanish list, against #31,134 for "tardas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tardan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tardas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #127,623 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tardan" and "tardas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tardas vs turbas". 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 #127,623 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