indicesvsindieWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: indices is a noun, indie is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“indices” is a noun and “indie” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,943
“indices” frequency rank
#7,140
“indie” frequency rank
24083
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indices indie
Definition plural of index Independent; from outside the mainstream.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set indices and indie apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
indices
5 ch
indie

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: indices is /ˈɪndɪsiːz/ while indie is /ˈɪndi/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24083, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indices is recorded at frequency rank #16,943, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɪndɪsiːz/. indie is at rank #7,140, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈɪndi/.

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 24083, this pair ranks #404,601 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of indices vs indie

Shared letters: dein. Private to "indices": cs. Private to "indie": -.

"indices" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "indie" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indicesidnices · indcies · inddices · indicces · indicess · indicse · indiecs · inidces
  • indieidnie · inddie · indei · inide · inndie · nidie

Frequency comparison

indices#16,943
indie#7,140

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "indices" and "indie" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "indices" is a noun and "indie" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "indices" or "indie"?
"indie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,140 in our English list, against #16,943 for "indices". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering indices vs indie

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “indices”; for an adjective, it's “indie”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “indices” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list