ternavstiernasWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: terna is a noun, tiernas is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“terna” is a noun and “tiernas” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,872
“terna” frequency rank
#25,067
“tiernas” frequency rank
58939
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature terna tiernas
Definition El conjunto de las tres personas que son propuestas a una autoridad para que designe a una de entre ellas en una función o empleo. Forma del femenino plural de tierno.

Where the eye mixes terna and tiernas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
terna
7 ch
tiernas

Visual trap between terna and tiernas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: terna is [ˈt̪eɾna] while tiernas is [ˈt̪jeɾnas]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58939, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

terna is recorded at frequency rank #33,872, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪eɾna]. tiernas is at rank #25,067, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt̪jeɾnas].

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 58939, this pair ranks #64,527 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of terna vs tiernas

Shared letters: aenrt. Private to "terna": -. Private to "tiernas": is.

"terna" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tiernas" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ternaetrna · tenra · teran · ternna · terrna · trena · tterna
  • tiernasiternas · teirnas · tienras · tierans · tiernass · tiernnas · tiernsa · tierrnas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "terna" for "tiernas" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "terna" is a noun and "tiernas" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "terna" or "tiernas"?
"tiernas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,067 in our Spanish list, against #33,872 for "terna". 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 "terna" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tiernas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #64,527 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "terna" and "tiernas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "terna vs Tirana". 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 #64,527 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