tendióvstercioWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tendió is a verb, tercio is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tendió” is a verb and “tercio” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,137
“tendió” frequency rank
#6,241
“tercio” frequency rank
37378
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tendió tercio
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de tender o de tenderse. Que es una de las tres partes iguales en que se divide algo.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
tendió
6 ch
tercio

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tendió is [t̪ẽn̪ˈd̪jo] while tercio is [ˈt̪eɾsjo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37378, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tendió is recorded at frequency rank #31,137, classified as averb, pronounced [t̪ẽn̪ˈd̪jo]. tercio is at rank #6,241, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt̪eɾsjo].

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 37378, this pair ranks #175,618 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tendió vs tercio

Shared letters: eit. Private to "tendió": dnó. Private to "tercio": cor.

"tendió" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "tercio" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tercioetrcio · tecrio · terccio · tercoi · terico · terrcio · tersio · trecio

Frequency comparison

tendió#31,137
tercio#6,241

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tendió" and "tercio" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tendió" is a verb and "tercio" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tendió" or "tercio"?
"tercio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,241 in our Spanish list, against #31,137 for "tendió". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tendió vs tercio

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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