incidenvsincidirWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“inciden” and “incidir” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#35,083
“inciden” frequency rank
#26,096
“incidir” frequency rank
61179
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature inciden incidir
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de incidir. Caer o incurrir en una falta, error, extremo, etc.

Where the eye mixes inciden and incidir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. inciden and incidir follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
inciden
7 ch
incidir

Visual trap between inciden and incidir

A purely visual mix-up. inciden ([ĩnˈsið̞ẽn]) and incidir ([ĩnsiˈð̞iɾ]) 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 61179, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

inciden is recorded at frequency rank #35,083, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩnˈsið̞ẽn]. incidir is at rank #26,096, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩnsiˈð̞iɾ].

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 61179, this pair ranks #56,367 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of inciden vs incidir

Shared letters: cdin. Private to "inciden": e. Private to "incidir": r.

"inciden" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "incidir" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • inciden ← icniden · incciden · incdien · incidden · incidenn · incidne · inciedn · inicden
  • incidir ← icnidir · inccidir · incdiir · inciddir · incidirr · incidri · inciidr · inicdir

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "inciden" and "incidir" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ĩnˈsið̞ẽn] versus [ĩnsiˈð̞iɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "inciden" vs "incidir" - which ranks higher?
"incidir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,096 in our Spanish list, against #35,083 for "inciden". 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 "inciden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "incidir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,367 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "inciden" and "incidir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inciden vs incitan". 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 #56,367 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list