tardíavstardíasWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,737
“tardía” frequency rank
#45,038
“tardías” frequency rank
60775
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tardía tardías
Definition Forma del femenino singular de tardío. Forma del femenino plural de tardío.

Where the eye mixes tardía and tardías

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

6 ch
tardía
7 ch
tardías

Look-alike desk: tardía vs tardías

A purely visual mix-up. tardía ([t̪aɾˈð̞ia]) and tardías ([t̪aɾˈð̞ias]) 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 extra letter(s) - “tardía” sits inside “tardías”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60775, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tardía is recorded at frequency rank #15,737, classified as anadj, pronounced [t̪aɾˈð̞ia]. tardías is at rank #45,038, tagged as anadj, pronounced [t̪aɾˈð̞ias].

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 60775, this pair ranks #57,783 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tardía vs tardías

Shared letters: adrtí. Private to "tardía": -. Private to "tardías": s.

"tardía" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "tardías" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tardía" and "tardías" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([t̪aɾˈð̞ia] versus [t̪aɾˈð̞ias]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tardía" vs "tardías" - which ranks higher?
"tardía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,737 in our Spanish list, against #45,038 for "tardías". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tardía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tardías" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,783 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tardía" and "tardías" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tardías vs tardíos". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #57,783 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