Which to use
“tardar” is a verb and “tardas” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,080
- “tardar” frequency rank
- #31,134
- “tardas” frequency rank
- 41214
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tardar | tardas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ocupar más tiempo del acostumbrado en algo. | Forma del femenino plural de tardo. |
Where the eye mixes tardar and tardas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tardar and tardas follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between tardar and tardas
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tardar is [t̪aɾˈð̞aɾ] while tardas is [ˈt̪aɾð̞as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “tardar” 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 41214, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tardar is recorded at frequency rank #10,080, classified as averb, pronounced [t̪aɾˈð̞aɾ]. 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 41214, this pair ranks #154,890 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tardar vs tardas
Shared letters: adrt. Private to "tardar": -. Private to "tardas": s.
"tardar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "tardas" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tardar" and "tardas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "tardar" or "tardas" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tardar" 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 #154,890 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tardar" 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 #154,890 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.