indicanvsindicesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,611
“indican” frequency rank
#35,562
“indices” frequency rank
40173
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indican indices
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de indicar. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de subjuntivo de indizar.

Where the eye mixes indican and indices

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

7 ch
indican
7 ch
indices

Why the eye confuses indican with indices

A purely visual mix-up. indican ([ĩn̪ˈd̪ikãn]) and indices ([ĩn̪ˈd̪ises]) 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 40173, 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]. indices is at rank #35,562, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩn̪ˈd̪ises].

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 40173, this pair ranks #160,511 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of indican vs indices

Shared letters: cdin. Private to "indican": a. Private to "indices": es.

"indican" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "indices" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indican ← idnican · indcian · inddican · indiacn · indicann · indiccan · indicna · inidcan
  • indices ← idnices · indcies · inddices · indicces · indicess · indicse · indiecs · indises

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "indican" for "indices" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ĩn̪ˈd̪ikãn] versus [ĩn̪ˈd̪ises]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "indican" vs "indices" - which ranks higher?
"indican" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,611 in our Spanish list, against #35,562 for "indices". 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 "indican" and "indices" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "indican" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "indices" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #160,511 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indican" and "indices" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indices vs inducen". 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 #160,511 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