indicationvsindignationWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,482
“indication” frequency rank
#26,125
“indignation” frequency rank
32607
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indication indignation
Definition An act of pointing out or indicating. An anger aroused by something perceived as an indignity, notably an offense or injustice.

Where the eye mixes indication and indignation

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

10 ch
indication
11 ch
indignation

Look-alike desk: indication vs indignation

A purely visual mix-up. indication (/ɪndɪˈkeɪʃən/) and indignation (/ˌɪn.dɪɡˈneɪ.ʃən/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32607, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indication is recorded at frequency rank #6,482, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪndɪˈkeɪʃən/. indignation is at rank #26,125, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˌɪn.dɪɡˈneɪ.ʃən/.

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 32607, this pair ranks #336,398 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of indication vs indignation

Shared letters: adinot. Private to "indication": c. Private to "indignation": g.

"indication" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVVC  ·  "indignation" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indicationidnication · indciation · inddication · indiaction · indicaiton · indicasion · indicatino · indicationn
  • indignationidnignation · inddignation · indgination · indigantion · indiggnation · indignaiton · indignasion · indignatino

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "indication" for "indignation" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɪndɪˈkeɪʃən/ versus /ˌɪn.dɪɡˈneɪ.ʃən/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "indication" vs "indignation" - which ranks higher?
"indication" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,482 in our English list, against #26,125 for "indignation". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "indication" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "indignation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #336,398 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indication" and "indignation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indigestion vs indignation". 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 #336,398 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