indiciovsiniciaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: indicio is a noun, inicia is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“indicio” is a noun and “inicia” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,396
“indicio” frequency rank
#3,712
“inicia” frequency rank
19108
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indicio inicia
Definition Evidencia o dato que sirve como base para una inferencia Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de iniciar.

Where the eye mixes indicio and inicia

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. indicio runs 7 letters (VCCVCVV) against inicia's 6 (VCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
indicio
6 ch
inicia

Visual trap between indicio and inicia

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: indicio is [ĩn̪ˈd̪isjo] while inicia is [iˈnisja]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19108, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indicio is recorded at frequency rank #15,396, classified as anoun, pronounced [ĩn̪ˈd̪isjo]. inicia is at rank #3,712, tagged as averb, pronounced [iˈnisja].

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 19108, this pair ranks #265,169 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of indicio vs inicia

Shared letters: cin. Private to "indicio": do. Private to "inicia": a.

"indicio" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV  ·  "inicia" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indicio ← idnicio · indciio · inddicio · indiccio · indicoi · indiico · indisio · inidcio
  • inicia ← iincia · inciia · inicai · iniccia · iniica · inisia · innicia · niicia

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "indicio" and "inicia" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "indicio" is a noun and "inicia" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "indicio" vs "inicia" - which ranks higher?
"inicia" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,712 in our Spanish list, against #15,396 for "indicio". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "indicio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "inicia" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #265,169 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indicio" and "inicia" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "idilio vs indicio". 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 #265,169 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