retardésvsretardsWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#39,506
“retardés” frequency rank
#11,655
“retards” frequency rank
51161
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature retardés retards
Definition Masculin pluriel de retardé. Pluriel de retard.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set retardés and retards apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
retardés
7 ch
retards

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: retardés is \ʁə.taʁ.de\ while retards is \ʁə.taʁ\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

retardés is recorded at frequency rank #39,506, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.taʁ.de\. retards is at rank #11,655, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.taʁ\.

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 51161, this pair ranks #157,108 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of retardés vs retards

Shared letters: aderst. Private to "retardés": é. Private to "retards": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retardsertards · reatrds · retadrs · retardds · retardss · retarrds · retarsd · retrads

Frequency comparison

retardés#39,506
retards#11,655

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "retardés" and "retards" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "retardés" is an adjective and "retards" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "retardés" or "retards"?
"retards" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,655 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 retardés vs retards

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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