tardavstardarWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tarda is a noun, tardar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tarda” is a noun and “tardar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,201
“tarda” frequency rank
#31,579
“tardar” frequency rank
49780
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tarda tardar
Definition tarde adiar demorar, procrastinar

Letter map: tarda vs tardar

Shared letters muted; letters that set tarda and tardar apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. tarda runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against tardar's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
tarda
6 ch
tardar

Grammar separator: tarda vs tardar

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tarda is anoun and tardaraverb. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “tarda” sits inside “tardar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49780, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tarda is recorded at frequency rank #18,201, classified as anoun. tardar is at rank #31,579, tagged as averb, pronounced /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 49780, this pair ranks #15,198 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tarda vs tardar

Shared letters: adrt. Private to "tarda": -. Private to "tardar": -.

"tarda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tardar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tarda ← atrda · tadra · tarad · tardda · tarrda · trada · ttarda
  • tardar ← atrdar · tadrar · taradr · tardarr · tarddar · tardra · tarrdar · tradar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tarda" for "tardar" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tarda" is a noun and "tardar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tarda" or "tardar"?
"tarda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,201 in our Portuguese list, against #31,579 for "tardar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "tarda" and "tardar".

  • Full dictionary entry for "tarda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tardar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #15,198 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tarda" and "tardar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tardar vs torrar". 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 #15,198 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