tacosvstercosWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tacos is a noun, tercos is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tacos” is a noun and “tercos” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,060
“tacos” frequency rank
#48,727
“tercos” frequency rank
56787
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tacos tercos
Definition Forma del plural de taco. Forma del plural de terco.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tacos and tercos apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
tacos
6 ch
tercos

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tacos is [ˈt̪akos] while tercos is [ˈt̪eɾkos]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56787, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tacos is recorded at frequency rank #8,060, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪akos]. tercos is at rank #48,727, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt̪eɾkos].

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 56787, this pair ranks #73,127 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tacos vs tercos

Shared letters: cost. Private to "tacos": a. Private to "tercos": er.

"tacos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "tercos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tacostaccos · tacoss · tacso · taocs · tcaos · ttacos
  • tercosetrcos · tecros · terccos · tercoss · tercso · terocs · terrcos · trecos

Frequency comparison

tacos#8,060
tercos#48,727

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tacos" and "tercos" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tacos" is a noun and "tercos" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tacos" or "tercos"?
"tacos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,060 in our Spanish list, against #48,727 for "tercos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tacos vs tercos

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “tacos”; for an adjective, it's “tercos”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tacos” 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