regardévsretardésWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,692
“regardé” frequency rank
#39,506
“retardés” frequency rank
42198
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature regardé retardés
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier de regarder. Masculin pluriel de retardé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set regardé and retardés apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
regardé
8 ch
retardés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: regardé is \ʁə.ɡaʁ.de\ while retardés is \ʁə.taʁ.de\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42198, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

regardé is recorded at frequency rank #2,692, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ɡaʁ.de\. retardés is at rank #39,506, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.taʁ.de\.

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 42198, this pair ranks #227,460 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of regardé vs retardés

Shared letters: aderé. Private to "regardé": g. Private to "retardés": st.

"regardé" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "retardés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Frequency comparison

regardé#2,692
retardés#39,506

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "regardé" and "retardés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "regardé" is a verb and "retardés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "regardé" or "retardés"?
"regardé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,692 in our French list, against #39,506 for "retardés". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering regardé vs retardés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “regardé”; for an adjective, it's “retardés”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “regardé” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list