Which to use
“retardar” and “retirar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,804
- “retardar” frequency rank
- #3,041
- “retirar” frequency rank
- 28845
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retardar | retirar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | tornar tardio | pôr fora da presença de alguém ou do sítio (regência verbal com preposição: de) |
Where the eye mixes retardar and retirar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. retardar runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against retirar's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: retardar vs retirar
A purely visual mix-up. retardar (/Rɨ.tɐɾ.ˈdaɾ/) and retirar (/Rɨ.ti.ˈɾaɾ/) 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 28845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retardar is recorded at frequency rank #25,804, classified as averb, pronounced /Rɨ.tɐɾ.ˈdaɾ/. retirar is at rank #3,041, tagged as averb, pronounced /Rɨ.ti.ˈɾaɾ/.
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 28845, this pair ranks #39,919 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of retardar vs retirar
Shared letters: aert. Private to "retardar": d. Private to "retirar": i.
"retardar" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "retirar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "retardar" for "retirar" ever safe?
Frequency check: "retardar" vs "retirar" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "retardar" and "retirar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "retardar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retirar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #39,919 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retardar" and "retirar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refinar vs retirar". 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 #39,919 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.