Which to use
“indicate” is a verb and “indicative” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,952
- “indicate” frequency rank
- #13,539
- “indicative” frequency rank
- 17491
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | indicate | indicative |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To point out; to discover; to direct to a knowledge of; to show; to make known. | Serving as a sign, indication or suggestion of something. |
Where the eye mixes indicate and indicative
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between indicate and indicative
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: indicate is /ˈɪndɪˌkeɪt/ while indicative is /ɪnˈdɪk.ə.tɪv/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17491, 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/. indicative is at rank #13,539, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪnˈdɪk.ə.tɪv/.
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 17491, this pair ranks #451,088 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of indicate vs indicative
Shared letters: acdeint. Private to "indicate": -. Private to "indicative": v.
"indicate" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV · "indicative" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- indicate ← idnicate · indciate · inddicate · indiacte · indicaet · indicatte · indiccate · indictae
- indicative ← idnicative · indciative · inddicative · indiactive · indicaitve · indicatiev · indicativve · indicattive
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "indicate" for "indicative" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "indicate" or "indicative" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "indicate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "indicative" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #451,088 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "indicate" and "indicative" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indicative vs inductive". 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 #451,088 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.