regardsvsretardésWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#5,698
“regards” frequency rank
#39,506
“retardés” frequency rank
45204
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature regards retardés
Definition Pluriel de regard. Masculin pluriel de retardé.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
regards
8 ch
retardés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: regards is \ʁə.ɡaʁ\ 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45204, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

regards is recorded at frequency rank #5,698, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.ɡaʁ\. 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 45204, this pair ranks #204,568 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of regards vs retardés

Shared letters: aders. Private to "regards": g. Private to "retardés": .

"regards" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC  ·  "retardés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • regardsergards · reagrds · regadrs · regardds · regardss · regarrds · regarsd · reggards

Frequency comparison

regards#5,698
retardés#39,506

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "regards" and "retardés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "regards" is a noun and "retardés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "regards" or "retardés"?
"regards" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,698 in our French list, against #39,506 for "retardés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering regards vs retardés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “regards”; for an adjective, it's “retardés”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “regards” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list