indígenavsindignoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,791
“indígena” frequency rank
#23,452
“indigno” frequency rank
27243
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indígena indigno
Definition Persona o cosa que es originaria de un lugar. Que no merece o no es digno de algo.

Where the eye mixes indígena and indigno

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. indígena runs 8 letters (VCCVCVCV) against indigno's 7 (VCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
indígena
7 ch
indigno

Why the eye confuses indígena with indigno

A purely visual mix-up. indígena ([ĩn̪ˈd̪ixena]) and indigno ([ĩn̪ˈd̪iɣ̞no]) 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 27243, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indígena is recorded at frequency rank #3,791, classified as anadj, pronounced [ĩn̪ˈd̪ixena]. indigno is at rank #23,452, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ĩn̪ˈd̪iɣ̞no].

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 27243, this pair ranks #227,801 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of indígena vs indigno

Shared letters: dgin. Private to "indígena": aeí. Private to "indigno": o.

"indígena" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV  ·  "indigno" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indigno ← idnigno · inddigno · indgino · indiggno · indignno · indigon · indingo · inidgno

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "indígena" and "indigno" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ĩn̪ˈd̪ixena] versus [ĩn̪ˈd̪iɣ̞no]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "indígena" or "indigno" show up more?
"indígena" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,791 in our Spanish list, against #23,452 for "indigno". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "indígena" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "indigno" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #227,801 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indígena" and "indigno" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indignan vs indigno". 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 #227,801 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