indicanvsindicarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,611
“indican” frequency rank
#6,315
“indicar” frequency rank
10926
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indican indicar
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de indicar. Designar algún objeto.

Where the eye mixes indican and indicar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
indican
7 ch
indicar

Look-alike desk: indican vs indicar

A purely visual mix-up. indican ([ĩn̪ˈd̪ikãn]) and indicar ([ĩn̪d̪iˈkaɾ]) 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 a single letter - n in “indican” becomes r in “indicar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10926, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indican is recorded at frequency rank #4,611, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩn̪ˈd̪ikãn]. indicar is at rank #6,315, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩn̪d̪iˈkaɾ].

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 10926, this pair ranks #296,867 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of indican vs indicar

Shared letters: acdin. Private to "indican": -. Private to "indicar": r.

"indican" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "indicar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indicanidnican · indcian · inddican · indiacn · indicann · indiccan · indicna · inidcan
  • indicaridnicar · indciar · inddicar · indiacr · indicarr · indiccar · indicra · inidcar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "indican" and "indicar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ĩn̪ˈd̪ikãn] versus [ĩn̪d̪iˈkaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "indican" or "indicar"?
"indican" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,611 in our Spanish list, against #6,315 for "indicar". 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 "indican" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "indicar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #296,867 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indican" and "indicar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indicar vs Indira". 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 #296,867 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