Which to use
“tercer” and “tercos” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,428
- “tercer” frequency rank
- #48,727
- “tercos” frequency rank
- 50155
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tercer | tercos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante de tercero (que ocupa el lugar tres en una serie, inmediatamente después del segundo elemento). | Forma del plural de terco. |
Where the eye mixes tercer and tercos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tercer and tercos follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between tercer and tercos
A purely visual mix-up. tercer ([t̪eɾˈseɾ]) and tercos ([ˈt̪eɾkos]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50155, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tercer is recorded at frequency rank #1,428, classified as anadj, pronounced [t̪eɾˈseɾ]. 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 50155, this pair ranks #104,794 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tercer vs tercos
Shared letters: cert. Private to "tercer": -. Private to "tercos": os.
"tercer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "tercos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tercer" and "tercos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "tercer" or "tercos"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "tercer" and "tercos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tercer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tercos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #104,794 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tercer" and "tercos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tercos vs termos". 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 #104,794 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.