tercovstuertoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#29,415
“terco” frequency rank
#23,261
“tuerto” frequency rank
52676
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature terco tuerto
Definition Que no cambia su opinión o proceder, pese a las razones en sentido contrario. Que tiene los ojos mirando en direcciones diferentes, sea convergentes o divergentes.

Where the eye mixes terco and tuerto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. terco runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against tuerto's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
terco
6 ch
tuerto

Why the eye confuses terco with tuerto

A purely visual mix-up. terco ([ˈt̪eɾko]) and tuerto ([ˈt̪weɾt̪o]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52676, 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]. tuerto is at rank #23,261, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt̪weɾt̪o].

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 52676, this pair ranks #91,579 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of terco vs tuerto

Shared letters: eort. Private to "terco": c. Private to "tuerto": u.

"terco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tuerto" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • terco ← etrco · tecro · tercco · teroc · terrco · treco · tterco
  • tuerto ← teurto · ttuerto · tuerot · tuerrto · tuertto · tuetro · tureto · uterto

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "terco" and "tuerto" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt̪eɾko] versus [ˈt̪weɾt̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "terco" vs "tuerto" - which ranks higher?
"tuerto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,261 in our Spanish list, against #29,415 for "terco". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "terco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tuerto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #91,579 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "terco" and "tuerto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "terco 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 #91,579 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