indagaciónvsindicaciónWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,085
“indagación” frequency rank
#13,068
“indicación” frequency rank
48153
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indagación indicación
Definition Acción y efecto de indagar. Acción o efecto de indicar.

Where the eye mixes indagación and indicación

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. indagación and indicación follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
indagación
10 ch
indicación

Look-alike desk: indagación vs indicación

A purely visual mix-up. indagación ([ĩn̪d̪aɣ̞aˈsjõn]) and indicación ([ĩn̪d̪ikaˈsjõn]) 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 48153, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indagación is recorded at frequency rank #35,085, classified as anoun, pronounced [ĩn̪d̪aɣ̞aˈsjõn]. indicación is at rank #13,068, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ĩn̪d̪ikaˈsjõn].

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 48153, this pair ranks #116,063 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of indagación vs indicación

Shared letters: acdinó. Private to "indagación": g. Private to "indicación": -.

"indagación" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVVC  ·  "indicación" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "indagación" for "indicación" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ĩn̪d̪aɣ̞aˈsjõn] versus [ĩn̪d̪ikaˈsjõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "indagación" vs "indicación" - which ranks higher?
"indicación" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,068 in our Spanish list, against #35,085 for "indagación". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "indagación" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "indicación" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #116,063 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indagación" and "indicación" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indicación vs invocación". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #116,063 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