regardervsretardésWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#776
“regarder” frequency rank
#39,506
“retardés” frequency rank
40282
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature regarder retardés
Definition Porter ses regards sur quelque chose ou quelqu’un. Masculin pluriel de retardé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set regarder and retardés apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
regarder
8 ch
retardés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: regarder is \ʁə.ɡaʁ.de\ while retardés is \ʁə.taʁ.de\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40282, 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\. 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 40282, this pair ranks #241,665 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of regarder vs retardés

Shared letters: ader. Private to "regarder": g. Private to "retardés": sté.

"regarder" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "retardés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • regarderergarder · reagrder · regadrer · regardder · regarderr · regardre · regaredr · regarrder

Frequency comparison

regarder#776
retardés#39,506

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "regarder" and "retardés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "regarder" is a verb and "retardés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "regarder" or "retardés"?
"regarder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #776 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 regarder vs retardés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “regarder”; for an adjective, it's “retardés”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “regarder” 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