Which to use
“retardée” is a noun and “retarder” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,112
- “retardée” frequency rank
- #12,466
- “retarder” frequency rank
- 37578
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retardée | retarder |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Femme qui a été retardée. | Différer ; temporiser. |
Same sound, different letters: retardée vs retarder
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. retardée (CVCVCCVV) and retarder (CVCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Ear matches; page differs - retardée and retarder
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: retardée and retarder carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁə.taʁ.de\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37578, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retardée is recorded at frequency rank #25,112, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.taʁ.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 37578, this pair ranks #261,513 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of retardée vs retarder
Shared letters: adert. Private to "retardée": é. Private to "retarder": -.
"retardée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV · "retarder" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- retarder ← ertarder · reatrder · retadrer · retardder · retarderr · retardre · retaredr · retarrder
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "retardée" and "retarder" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "retardée" or "retarder"?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "retardée" / "retarder". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "retardée" 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 #261,513 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retardée" and "retarder" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "remariée vs retardée". 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 #261,513 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.