techvsticWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: tech is a pronoun, tic is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tech” is a pronoun and “tic” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,505
“tech” frequency rank
#7,634
“tic” frequency rank
23139
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tech tic
Definition Te, pronombre personal de la segunda persona en singular para el objeto indirecto. Cada una de las pulsaciones o golpes que da un reloj analógico.

Where the eye mixes tech and tic

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
tech
3 ch
tic

Why the eye confuses tech with tic

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tech is /tet͡ʃ/ while tic is [ˈt̪ik]. 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 (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23139, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tech is recorded at frequency rank #15,505, classified as apron, pronounced /tet͡ʃ/. tic is at rank #7,634, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪ik].

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 23139, this pair ranks #247,198 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tech vs tic

Shared letters: ct. Private to "tech": eh. Private to "tic": i.

"tech" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "tic" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • techetch · tceh · tecch · techh · tehc · ttech

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tech" for "tic" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tech" is a pronoun and "tic" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "tech" or "tic" show up more?
"tic" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,634 in our Spanish list, against #15,505 for "tech". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tech" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tic" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #247,198 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tech" and "tic" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tech vs tem". 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 #247,198 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list