Which to use
“tengo” is a verb and “terço” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,588
- “tengo” frequency rank
- #6,716
- “terço” frequency rank
- 53304
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tengo | terço |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | primeira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo tener | uma das subdivisões do rosário cristão |
Letter map: tengo vs terço
Shared letters muted; letters that set tengo and terço apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. tengo and terço follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Grammar separator: tengo vs terço
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tengo is averb and terçoanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53304, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tengo is recorded at frequency rank #46,588, classified as averb. 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 53304, this pair ranks #12,133 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tengo vs terço
Shared letters: eot. Private to "tengo": gn. Private to "terço": rç.
"tengo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "terço" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- tengo ← etngo · tegno · tenggo · tenngo · tenog · tnego · ttengo
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tengo" and "terço" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "tengo" or "terço" show up more?
What to do next
Pair "tengo" vs "terço" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "tengo" 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 #12,133 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tengo" and "terço" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teco vs tengo". 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 #12,133 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.