sufrióvssurcoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#4,200
“sufrió” frequency rank
#24,664
“surco” frequency rank
28864
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sufrió surco
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de sufrir. Franja de tierra hendida por el arado.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sufrió and surco apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
sufrió
5 ch
surco

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sufrió is [suˈfɾjo] while surco is [ˈsuɾko]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28864, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sufrió is recorded at frequency rank #4,200, classified as averb, pronounced [suˈfɾjo]. surco is at rank #24,664, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsuɾko].

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 28864, this pair ranks #219,851 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sufrió vs surco

Shared letters: rsu. Private to "sufrió": fió. Private to "surco": co.

"sufrió" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "surco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • surcosruco · ssurco · sucro · surcco · suroc · surrco · usrco

Frequency comparison

sufrió#4,200
surco#24,664

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sufrió" and "surco" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sufrió" is a verb and "surco" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sufrió" or "surco"?
"sufrió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,200 in our Spanish list, against #24,664 for "surco". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sufrió vs surco

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “sufrió”; for a noun, it's “surco”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sufrió” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list