indiciovsinicioWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,396
“indicio” frequency rank
#1,294
“inicio” frequency rank
16690
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indicio inicio
Definition Evidencia o dato que sirve como base para una inferencia Principio u origen de alguna cosa; punto de partida; momento o lugar en que algo comienza.

Where the eye mixes indicio and inicio

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

7 ch
indicio
6 ch
inicio

Why the eye confuses indicio with inicio

A purely visual mix-up. indicio ([ĩn̪ˈd̪isjo]) and inicio ([iˈnisjo]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16690, 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]. inicio is at rank #1,294, tagged as anoun, pronounced [iˈnisjo].

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 16690, this pair ranks #275,144 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of indicio vs inicio

Shared letters: cino. Private to "indicio": d. Private to "inicio": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indicio ← idnicio · indciio · inddicio · indiccio · indicoi · indiico · indisio · inidcio
  • inicio ← iincio · inciio · iniccio · inicoi · iniico · inisio · innicio · niicio

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "indicio" and "inicio" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ĩn̪ˈd̪isjo] versus [iˈnisjo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "indicio" vs "inicio" - which ranks higher?
"inicio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,294 in our Spanish list, against #15,396 for "indicio". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "indicio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "inicio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #275,144 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indicio" and "inicio" 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 #275,144 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