incantationvsindentationConfusable pair

Which to use

“incantation” and “indentation” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#49,419
“incantation” frequency rank
#44,863
“indentation” frequency rank
94282
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature incantation indentation
Definition The act or process of using formulas and/or usually rhyming words, sung or spoken, with occult ceremonies, for the purpose of raising spirits, producing enchantment, or creating other magical results. The act of indenting or state of being indented.

Where the eye mixes incantation and indentation

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

11 ch
incantation
11 ch
indentation

Visual trap between incantation and indentation

A purely visual mix-up. incantation (/ɪnkænˈteɪʃən/) and indentation (/ˌɪndɛnˈteɪʃən/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 94282, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

incantation is recorded at frequency rank #49,419, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪnkænˈteɪʃən/. indentation is at rank #44,863, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˌɪndɛnˈteɪʃən/.

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 94282, this pair ranks #1,477 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of incantation vs indentation

Shared letters: ainot. Private to "incantation": c. Private to "indentation": de.

"incantation" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVVC  ·  "indentation" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • incantationicnantation · inacntation · incanattion · incanntation · incantaiton · incantasion · incantatino · incantationn
  • indentationidnentation · inddentation · indenattion · indenntation · indentaiton · indentasion · indentatino · indentationn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "incantation" for "indentation" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɪnkænˈteɪʃən/ versus /ˌɪndɛnˈteɪʃən/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "incantation" vs "indentation" - which ranks higher?
"indentation" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,863 in our English list, against #49,419 for "incantation". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "incantation" and "indentation" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "incantation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "indentation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,477 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "incantation" and "indentation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indentation vs infestation". 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 #1,477 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list