incidirvsinhibirTell them apart

Which to use

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

#26,096
“incidir” frequency rank
#38,765
“inhibir” frequency rank
64861
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature incidir inhibir
Definition Caer o incurrir en una falta, error, extremo, etc. Reprimir, impedir la manifestación de una reacción o conducta fisiológica o psicológica.

Where the eye mixes incidir and inhibir

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

7 ch
incidir
7 ch
inhibir

Visual trap between incidir and inhibir

A purely visual mix-up. incidir ([ĩnsiˈð̞iɾ]) and inhibir ([ĩniˈβ̞iɾ]) 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 64861, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

incidir is recorded at frequency rank #26,096, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩnsiˈð̞iɾ]. inhibir is at rank #38,765, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩniˈβ̞iɾ].

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 64861, this pair ranks #44,345 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of incidir vs inhibir

Shared letters: inr. Private to "incidir": cd. Private to "inhibir": bh.

"incidir" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "inhibir" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • incidir ← icnidir · inccidir · incdiir · inciddir · incidirr · incidri · inciidr · inicdir
  • inhibir ← ihnibir · inhbiir · inhhibir · inhibbir · inhibirr · inhibri · inhiibr · inhivir

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "incidir" and "inhibir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ĩnsiˈð̞iɾ] versus [ĩniˈβ̞iɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "incidir" or "inhibir"?
"incidir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,096 in our Spanish list, against #38,765 for "inhibir". 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 "incidir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "inhibir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,345 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "incidir" and "inhibir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inhibidor vs inhibir". 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 #44,345 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