indictvsinnitTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#34,936
“indict” frequency rank
#39,861
“innit” frequency rank
74797
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indict innit
Definition To accuse of wrongdoing; charge. Contraction of isn't + it.

Where the eye mixes indict and innit

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. indict runs 6 letters (VCCVCC) against innit's 5 (VCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
indict
5 ch
innit

Why the eye confuses indict with innit

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: indict is /ɪnˈdaɪt/ while innit is /ˈɪn.ɪt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74797, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indict is recorded at frequency rank #34,936, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈdaɪt/. innit is at rank #39,861, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /ˈɪn.ɪt/.

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 74797, this pair ranks #35,195 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of indict vs innit

Shared letters: int. Private to "indict": cd. Private to "innit": -.

"indict" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC  ·  "innit" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indict ← idnict · indcit · inddict · indicct · indictt · inditc · inidct · inndict
  • innit ← inint · innitt · innti · ninit

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "indict" for "innit" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "indict" is a verb and "innit" a contraction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "indict" vs "innit" - which ranks higher?
"indict" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,936 in our English list, against #39,861 for "innit". 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 "indict" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "innit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #35,195 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indict" and "innit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inna vs innit". 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 #35,195 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