Which to use
“indicate” and “indicated” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,952
- “indicate” frequency rank
- #4,023
- “indicated” frequency rank
- 7975
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | indicate | indicated |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To point out; to discover; to direct to a knowledge of; to show; to make known. | simple past and past participle of indicate |
Where the eye mixes indicate and indicated
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses indicate with indicated
A purely visual mix-up. indicate (/ˈɪndɪˌkeɪt/) and indicated (/ˈɪndɪkeɪtɪd/) 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 extra letter(s) - “indicate” sits inside “indicated”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7975, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
indicate is recorded at frequency rank #3,952, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɪndɪˌkeɪt/. indicated is at rank #4,023, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɪndɪkeɪtɪd/.
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 7975, this pair ranks #504,697 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of indicate vs indicated
Shared letters: acdeint. Private to "indicate": -. Private to "indicated": -.
"indicate" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV · "indicated" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "indicate" for "indicated" ever safe?
Frequency check: "indicate" vs "indicated" - which ranks higher?
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 "indicate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "indicated" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #504,697 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "indicate" and "indicated" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indicate vs indict". 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 #504,697 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.