Which to use
“tardifs” and “tardives” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,043
- “tardifs” frequency rank
- #26,888
- “tardives” frequency rank
- 59931
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tardifs | tardives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de tardif. | Féminin pluriel de tardif. |
Where the eye mixes tardifs and tardives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. tardifs runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against tardives's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: tardifs vs tardives
A purely visual mix-up. tardifs (\taʁ.dif\) and tardives (\taʁ.div\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59931, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tardifs is recorded at frequency rank #33,043, classified as anadj, pronounced \taʁ.dif\. tardives is at rank #26,888, tagged as anadj, pronounced \taʁ.div\.
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 59931, this pair ranks #100,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tardifs vs tardives
Shared letters: adirst. Private to "tardifs": f. Private to "tardives": ev.
"tardifs" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "tardives" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tardifs" for "tardives" ever safe?
Which is more common, "tardifs" or "tardives"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "tardifs" and "tardives" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tardifs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tardives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #100,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tardifs" and "tardives" 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 #100,396 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.