indicabanvsindicadasWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: indicaban is a verb, indicadas is a participle, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“indicaban” is a verb and “indicadas” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,409
“indicaban” frequency rank
#22,734
“indicadas” frequency rank
51143
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indicaban indicadas
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de indicar. Forma del femenino plural de indicado, participio de indicar.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set indicaban and indicadas apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
indicaban
9 ch
indicadas

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: indicaban is [ĩn̪d̪iˈkaβ̞ãn] while indicadas is [ĩn̪d̪iˈkað̞as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51143, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indicaban is recorded at frequency rank #28,409, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩn̪d̪iˈkaβ̞ãn]. indicadas is at rank #22,734, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [ĩn̪d̪iˈkað̞as].

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 51143, this pair ranks #99,450 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of indicaban vs indicadas

Shared letters: acdin. Private to "indicaban": b. Private to "indicadas": s.

"indicaban" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC  ·  "indicadas" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indicabanidnicaban · indciaban · inddicaban · indiacban · indicaabn · indicabann · indicabban · indicabna
  • indicadasidnicadas · indciadas · inddicadas · indiacdas · indicaads · indicadass · indicaddas · indicadsa

Frequency comparison

indicaban#28,409
indicadas#22,734

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "indicaban" and "indicadas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "indicaban" is a verb and "indicadas" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "indicaban" or "indicadas"?
"indicadas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,734 in our Spanish list, against #28,409 for "indicaban". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering indicaban vs indicadas

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “indicaban”; for a participle, it's “indicadas”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “indicaban” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list