tejovsterWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#46,836
“tejo” frequency rank
#15,973
“ter” frequency rank
62809
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tejo ter
Definition Pedazo de piedra plana y redondeada, o trozo de teja que se usa en diversos juegos. Tener.

Where the eye mixes tejo and ter

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

4 ch
tejo
3 ch
ter

Why the eye confuses tejo with ter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tejo is [ˈt̪exo] while ter is [ˈt̪eɾ]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62809, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tejo is recorded at frequency rank #46,836, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪exo]. ter is at rank #15,973, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈt̪eɾ].

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 62809, this pair ranks #50,771 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tejo vs ter

Shared letters: et. Private to "tejo": jo. Private to "ter": r.

"tejo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "ter" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tejoetjo · tejjo · teoj · tjeo · ttejo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tejo" for "ter" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tejo" is a noun and "ter" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "tejo" or "ter" show up more?
"ter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,973 in our Spanish list, against #46,836 for "tejo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tejo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,771 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tejo" and "ter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tapo vs tejo". 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 #50,771 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