Which to use
“indebted” is a verb and “indented” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #22,119
- “indebted” frequency rank
- #44,269
- “indented” frequency rank
- 66388
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | indebted | indented |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of indebt | Cut in the edge into points or inequalities, like teeth; dented on the surface; jagged; notched; stamped in. |
Where the eye mixes indebted and indented
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: indebted vs indented
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: indebted is /ɪnˈdɛtɪd/ while indented is /ɪnˈdɛntɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - b in “indebted” becomes n in “indented”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66388, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
indebted is recorded at frequency rank #22,119, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈdɛtɪd/. indented is at rank #44,269, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪnˈdɛntɪd/.
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 66388, this pair ranks #68,239 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of indebted vs indented
Shared letters: deint. Private to "indebted": b. Private to "indented": -.
"indebted" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "indented" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "indebted" for "indented" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "indebted" or "indented" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "indebted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "indented" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #68,239 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "indebted" and "indented" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indented vs indentured". 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 #68,239 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.