terçavstermasWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,592
“terça” frequency rank
#36,670
“termas” frequency rank
38262
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature terça termas
Definition estrofe que contém três versos plural de terma

Where the eye mixes terça and termas

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

5 ch
terça
6 ch
termas

Visual trap between terça and termas

A purely visual mix-up. terça (/ˈteɾ.sɐ/) and termas (/ˈteɾ.mɐʃ/) 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 38262, 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/. termas is at rank #36,670, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈteɾ.mɐʃ/.

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 38262, this pair ranks #28,222 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of terça vs termas

Shared letters: aert. Private to "terça": ç. Private to "termas": ms.

"terça" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "termas" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • termasetrmas · temras · terams · termass · termmas · termsa · terrmas · tremas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "terça" and "termas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈteɾ.sɐ/ versus /ˈteɾ.mɐʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "terça" vs "termas" - which ranks higher?
"terça" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,592 in our Portuguese list, against #36,670 for "termas". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "termas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,222 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "terça" and "termas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teima vs termas". 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 #28,222 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