indigestionvsindignationWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#35,353
“indigestion” frequency rank
#26,125
“indignation” frequency rank
61478
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indigestion indignation
Definition A condition of heartburn, nausea, or other stomach-related pain, sometimes caused by eating too quickly. An anger aroused by something perceived as an indignity, notably an offense or injustice.

Where the eye mixes indigestion and indignation

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. indigestion (VCCVCVCCVVC) and indignation (VCCVCCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

11 ch
indigestion
11 ch
indignation

Why the eye confuses indigestion with indignation

A purely visual mix-up. indigestion (/ˌɪn.dɪˈdʒes.tʃən/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61478, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indigestion is recorded at frequency rank #35,353, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˌɪn.dɪˈdʒes.tʃən/. 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 61478, this pair ranks #94,023 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of indigestion vs indignation

Shared letters: dginot. Private to "indigestion": es. Private to "indignation": a.

"indigestion" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVVC  ·  "indignation" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indigestion ← idnigestion · inddigestion · indgiestion · indiegstion · indigesiton · indigession · indigesstion · indigestino
  • indignation ← idnignation · inddignation · indgination · indigantion · indiggnation · indignaiton · indignasion · indignatino

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "indigestion" for "indignation" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˌɪn.dɪˈdʒes.tʃən/ versus /ˌɪn.dɪɡˈneɪ.ʃən/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "indigestion" vs "indignation" - which ranks higher?
"indignation" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,125 in our English list, against #35,353 for "indigestion". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "indigestion" 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 #94,023 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indigestion" and "indignation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indigestion vs ingestion". 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 #94,023 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