Which to use
“retarder” is a verb and “retardés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,466
- “retarder” frequency rank
- #39,506
- “retardés” frequency rank
- 51972
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retarder | retardés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Différer ; temporiser. | Masculin pluriel de retardé. |
Same sound, different letters: retarder vs retardés
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. retarder and retardés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Homophone desk: retarder vs retardés
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: retarder and retardés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁə.taʁ.de\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, 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 51972, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retarder is recorded at frequency rank #12,466, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.taʁ.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 51972, this pair ranks #151,080 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of retarder vs retardés
Shared letters: adert. Private to "retarder": -. Private to "retardés": sé.
"retarder" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "retardés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- retarder ← ertarder · reatrder · retadrer · retardder · retarderr · retardre · retaredr · retarrder
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "retarder" and "retardés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "retarder" or "retardés"?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "retarder" / "retardés". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "retarder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retardés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #151,080 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retarder" and "retardés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "regardées vs retardés". 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 #151,080 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.