indicavsindictWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: indica is a noun, indict is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“indica” is a noun and “indict” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,935
“indica” frequency rank
#34,936
“indict” frequency rank
69871
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indica indict
Definition Any of the indica subspecies of the rice, Oryza sativa, which (unlike the japonica or sinica subspecies) are non-sticky and long-grained. To accuse of wrongdoing; charge.

Where the eye mixes indica and indict

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. indica (VCCVCV) and indict (VCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
indica
6 ch
indict

Why the eye confuses indica with indict

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: indica is /ˈɪn.dɪ.kə/ while indict is /ɪnˈdaɪt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “indica” becomes t in “indict”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69871, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indica is recorded at frequency rank #34,935, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɪn.dɪ.kə/. indict is at rank #34,936, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈdaɪt/.

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 69871, this pair ranks #52,786 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of indica vs indict

Shared letters: cdin. Private to "indica": a. Private to "indict": t.

"indica" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "indict" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indica ← idnica · indcia · inddica · indiac · indicca · inidca · inndica · nidica
  • indict ← idnict · indcit · inddict · indicct · indictt · inditc · inidct · inndict

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "indica" for "indict" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "indica" is a noun and "indict" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "indica" vs "indict" - which ranks higher?
"indica" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,935 in our English list, against #34,936 for "indict". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "indica" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "indict" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #52,786 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indica" and "indict" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indict vs indio". 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 #52,786 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