Which to use
“talco” and “terço” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,106
- “talco” frequency rank
- #6,716
- “terço” frequency rank
- 43822
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | talco | terço |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mineral derivado do magnésio e que se apresenta em agregados de lâminas | uma das subdivisões do rosário cristão |
Where the eye mixes talco and terço
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. talco and terço follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses talco with terço
A purely visual mix-up. talco (/ˈtaɫ.ku/) and terço (/ˈteɾ.su/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43822, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
talco is recorded at frequency rank #37,106, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtaɫ.ku/. terço is at rank #6,716, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈteɾ.su/.
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 43822, this pair ranks #21,761 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of talco vs terço
Shared letters: ot. Private to "talco": acl. Private to "terço": erç.
"talco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "terço" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- talco ← atlco · taclo · talcco · tallco · taloc · tlaco · ttalco
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "talco" and "terço" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "talco" or "terço"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "talco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "terço" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #21,761 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "talco" and "terço" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "talco vs tampo". 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 #21,761 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.