retardadovsretardarWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: retardado is a adjective, retardar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“retardado” is an adjective and “retardar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,913
“retardado” frequency rank
#25,804
“retardar” frequency rank
41717
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature retardado retardar
Definition atrasado tornar tardio

Letter map: retardado vs retardar

Shared letters muted; letters that set retardado and retardar apart highlighted. Shared run: 7. retardado runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCV) against retardar's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
retardado
8 ch
retardar

Grammar separator: retardado vs retardar

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: retardado is anadjective and retardaraverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41717, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

retardado is recorded at frequency rank #15,913, classified as anadj. retardar is at rank #25,804, tagged as averb, pronounced /Rɨ.tɐɾ.ˈdaɾ/.

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 41717, this pair ranks #24,166 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of retardado vs retardar

Shared letters: adert. Private to "retardado": o. Private to "retardar": -.

"retardado" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV  ·  "retardar" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retardado ← ertardado · reatrdado · retadrado · retaraddo · retardaddo · retardaod · retarddado · retarddao
  • retardar ← ertardar · reatrdar · retadrar · retaradr · retardarr · retarddar · retardra · retarrdar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "retardado" and "retardar" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "retardado" is an adjective and "retardar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "retardado" or "retardar"?
"retardado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,913 in our Portuguese list, against #25,804 for "retardar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "retardado" and "retardar". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "retardado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "retardar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,166 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "retardado" and "retardar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reparar vs retardar". 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 #24,166 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list