tercovstercosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#29,415
“terco” frequency rank
#48,727
“tercos” frequency rank
78142
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes terco and tercos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. terco runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against tercos's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
terco
6 ch
tercos

Look-alike desk: terco vs tercos

A purely visual mix-up. terco ([ˈt̪eɾko]) 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 differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “terco” sits inside “tercos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78142, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

terco is recorded at frequency rank #29,415, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈt̪eɾko]. 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 78142, this pair ranks #14,898 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of terco vs tercos

Shared letters: ceort. Private to "terco": -. Private to "tercos": s.

"terco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tercos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • terco ← etrco · tecro · tercco · teroc · terrco · treco · tterco
  • tercos ← etrcos · tecros · terccos · tercoss · tercso · terocs · terrcos · trecos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "terco" and "tercos" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt̪eɾko] versus [ˈt̪eɾkos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "terco" or "tercos"?
"terco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,415 in our Spanish list, against #48,727 for "tercos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "terco" 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 #14,898 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "terco" 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 #14,898 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