tercavstercoTell them apart

Which to use

“terca” and “terco” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,175
“terca” frequency rank
#29,415
“terco” frequency rank
71590
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature terca terco
Definition Forma del femenino singular de terco. Que no cambia su opinión o proceder, pese a las razones en sentido contrario.

Where the eye mixes terca and terco

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
terca
5 ch
terco

Look-alike desk: terca vs terco

A purely visual mix-up. terca ([ˈt̪eɾka]) and terco ([ˈt̪eɾko]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - a in “terca” becomes o in “terco”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71590, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

terca is recorded at frequency rank #42,175, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈt̪eɾka]. terco is at rank #29,415, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt̪eɾko].

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 71590, this pair ranks #27,149 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of terca vs terco

Shared letters: cert. Private to "terca": a. Private to "terco": o.

"terca" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "terco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tercaetrca · tecra · terac · tercca · terrca · treca · tterca
  • tercoetrco · tecro · tercco · teroc · terrco · treco · tterco

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "terca" for "terco" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt̪eɾka] versus [ˈt̪eɾko]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "terca" or "terco"?
"terco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,415 in our Spanish list, against #42,175 for "terca". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "terca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "terco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,149 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "terca" and "terco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "terca vs tercos". 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 #27,149 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