Which to use
“regarder” and “retarder” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #776
- “regarder” frequency rank
- #12,466
- “retarder” frequency rank
- 13242
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | regarder | retarder |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Porter ses regards sur quelque chose ou quelqu’un. | Différer ; temporiser. |
Where the eye mixes regarder and retarder
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between regarder and retarder
A purely visual mix-up. regarder (\ʁə.ɡaʁ.de\) and retarder (\ʁə.taʁ.de\) 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 a single letter - g in “regarder” becomes t in “retarder”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13242, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
regarder is recorded at frequency rank #776, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ɡaʁ.de\. retarder is at rank #12,466, tagged as averb, 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 13242, this pair ranks #401,832 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of regarder vs retarder
Shared letters: ader. Private to "regarder": g. Private to "retarder": t.
"regarder" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "retarder" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "regarder" and "retarder" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "regarder" or "retarder"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "regarder" and "retarder" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "regarder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retarder" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #401,832 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "regarder" and "retarder" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reader vs retarder". 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 #401,832 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.