indict
/ɪnˈdaɪt/
"indict" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“indict” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #34,936 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #34,936
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To accuse of wrongdoing; charge.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | indict |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ɪnˈdaɪt/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #34,936 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “indict” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for indict is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɪnˈdaɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #34,936 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for indict, with forms such as "idnict", "indcit", and "inddict". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "init", "indie", "Inuit", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English enditen, endyten (“to accuse”), from Old French enditer (“to dictate, indite”), from Late Latin indictāre, frequentative of Latin indicere (“to proclaim”), from in- + dicere (“to say”), or from in- + dictāre (“to say often, to dictate”).… The correct English form is indict, spelled I-N-D-I-C-T.
Definition
- 1To accuse of wrongdoing; charge.
- 2To make a formal accusation or indictment for a crime against (a party) by the findings of a jury, especially a grand jury.
Etymology
From Middle English enditen, endyten (“to accuse”), from Old French enditer (“to dictate, indite”), from Late Latin indictāre, frequentative of Latin indicere (“to proclaim”), from in- + dicere (“to say”), or from in- + dictāre (“to say often, to dictate”). Doublet of indite. The irregular spelling is due to the word having been borrowed into Middle English from Old French, and not from Latin as was the case with most other descendants of dictāre (but see dight). The borrowed /iː/ regularly shifted to /aɪ/ in the course of the Great Vowel Shift; the ⟨c⟩ represents a later attempt at graphic Latinisation.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: idnict,indcit,inddict,indicct,indictt,inditc,inidct,inndict,nidict
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of indict - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “indict”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-D-I-C-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɪnˈdaɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “init” - see the side-by-side comparison. indict vs init
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.