indicabanvsindicanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,409
“indicaban” frequency rank
#4,611
“indican” frequency rank
33020
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indicaban indican
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de indicar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de indicar.

Where the eye mixes indicaban and indican

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. indicaban runs 9 letters (VCCVCVCVC) against indican's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
indicaban
7 ch
indican

Look-alike desk: indicaban vs indican

A purely visual mix-up. indicaban ([ĩn̪d̪iˈkaβ̞ãn]) and indican ([ĩn̪ˈd̪ikãn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33020, 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]. indican is at rank #4,611, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩn̪ˈd̪ikãn].

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 33020, this pair ranks #198,994 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of indicaban vs indican

Shared letters: acdin. Private to "indicaban": b. Private to "indican": -.

"indicaban" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC  ·  "indican" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indicaban ← idnicaban · indciaban · inddicaban · indiacban · indicaabn · indicabann · indicabban · indicabna
  • indican ← idnican · indcian · inddican · indiacn · indicann · indiccan · indicna · inidcan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "indicaban" for "indican" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ĩn̪d̪iˈkaβ̞ãn] versus [ĩn̪ˈd̪ikãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "indicaban" vs "indican" - which ranks higher?
"indican" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,611 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.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "indicaban" and "indican" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "indicaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "indican" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #198,994 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indicaban" and "indican" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indicaban vs indicará". 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 #198,994 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