terçavsterçoTell them apart

Which to use

“terça” and “terço” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,592
“terça” frequency rank
#6,716
“terço” frequency rank
8308
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature terça terço
Definition estrofe que contém três versos uma das subdivisões do rosário cristão

Where the eye mixes terça and terço

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
terça
5 ch
terço

Look-alike desk: terça vs terço

A purely visual mix-up. terça (/ˈteɾ.sɐ/) 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 differ by a single letter - a in “terça” becomes o in “terço”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8308, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

terça is recorded at frequency rank #1,592, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈteɾ.sɐ/. 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 8308, this pair ranks #65,508 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of terça vs terço

Shared letters: ertç. Private to "terça": a. Private to "terço": o.

"terça" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "terço" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "terça" for "terço" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈteɾ.sɐ/ versus /ˈteɾ.su/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "terça" or "terço"?
"terça" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,592 in our Portuguese list, against #6,716 for "terço". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "terça" 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 #65,508 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "terça" and "terço" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tengo vs terço". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #65,508 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list