tardasvstardíosConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#31,134
“tardas” frequency rank
#46,243
“tardíos” frequency rank
77377
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tardas tardíos
Definition Forma del femenino plural de tardo. Forma del masculino plural de tardío.

Where the eye mixes tardas and tardíos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tardas runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against tardíos's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
tardas
7 ch
tardíos

Visual trap between tardas and tardíos

A purely visual mix-up. tardas ([ˈt̪aɾð̞as]) and tardíos ([t̪aɾˈð̞ios]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77377, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tardas is recorded at frequency rank #31,134, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈt̪aɾð̞as]. tardíos is at rank #46,243, tagged as anadj, pronounced [t̪aɾˈð̞ios].

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 77377, this pair ranks #16,109 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tardas vs tardíos

Shared letters: adrst. Private to "tardas": -. Private to "tardíos": oí.

"tardas" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "tardíos" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tardas ← atrdas · tadras · tarads · tardass · tarddas · tardsa · tarrdas · tradas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tardas" and "tardíos" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt̪aɾð̞as] versus [t̪aɾˈð̞ios]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tardas" vs "tardíos" - which ranks higher?
"tardas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,134 in our Spanish list, against #46,243 for "tardíos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "tardas" and "tardíos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tardas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tardíos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,109 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tardas" and "tardíos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tardíos vs tarros". 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 #16,109 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