Which to use
“regard” and “retards” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,207
- “regard” frequency rank
- #11,655
- “retards” frequency rank
- 12862
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | regard | retards |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Manière de diriger les yeux vers quelque chose afin de voir. | Pluriel de retard. |
Where the eye mixes regard and retards
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. regard runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against retards's 7 (CVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between regard and retards
A purely visual mix-up. regard (\ʁə.ɡaʁ\) and retards (\ʁə.taʁ\) 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 12862, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
regard is recorded at frequency rank #1,207, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.ɡaʁ\. retards is at rank #11,655, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.taʁ\.
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 12862, this pair ranks #403,440 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of regard vs retards
Shared letters: ader. Private to "regard": g. Private to "retards": st.
"regard" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "retards" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "regard" and "retards" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "regard" or "retards" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "regard" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retards" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #403,440 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "regard" and "retards" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réparés vs retards". 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 #403,440 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.