incidenvsincitanWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#35,083
“inciden” frequency rank
#38,756
“incitan” frequency rank
73839
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature inciden incitan
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de incidir. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de incitar.

Where the eye mixes inciden and incitan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
inciden
7 ch
incitan

Visual trap between inciden and incitan

A purely visual mix-up. inciden ([ĩnˈsið̞ẽn]) and incitan ([ĩnˈsit̪ãn]) 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 73839, 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]. incitan is at rank #38,756, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩnˈsit̪ãn].

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 73839, this pair ranks #22,492 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of inciden vs incitan

Shared letters: cin. Private to "inciden": de. Private to "incitan": at.

"inciden" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "incitan" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • incidenicniden · incciden · incdien · incidden · incidenn · incidne · inciedn · inicden
  • incitanicnitan · inccitan · inciatn · incitann · incitna · incittan · inctian · inictan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "inciden" and "incitan" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ĩnˈsið̞ẽn] versus [ĩnˈsit̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "inciden" or "incitan" show up more?
"inciden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,083 in our Spanish list, against #38,756 for "incitan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "inciden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "incitan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,492 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "inciden" and "incitan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "incitan vs incitando". 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 #22,492 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