Which to use
“tardif” and “tardifs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,874
- “tardif” frequency rank
- #33,043
- “tardifs” frequency rank
- 45917
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tardif | tardifs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui tarde ; qui vient tard. | Masculin pluriel de tardif. |
Same sound, different letters: tardif vs tardifs
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. tardif runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against tardifs's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - tardif / tardifs
This is the hard kind. tardif and tardifs are pronounced identically (\taʁ.dif\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “tardif” sits inside “tardifs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45917, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tardif is recorded at frequency rank #12,874, classified as anadj, pronounced \taʁ.dif\. tardifs is at rank #33,043, tagged as anadj, pronounced \taʁ.dif\.
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 45917, this pair ranks #199,078 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tardif vs tardifs
Shared letters: adfirt. Private to "tardif": -. Private to "tardifs": s.
"tardif" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "tardifs" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tardif" for "tardifs" ever safe?
Frequency check: "tardif" vs "tardifs" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
"tardif" and "tardifs" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "tardif" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tardifs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #199,078 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tardif" and "tardifs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Tardieu vs tardifs". 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 #199,078 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.