IndiansvsindicesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#44,503
“Indians” frequency rank
#5,352
“indices” frequency rank
49855
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Indians indices
Definition Pluriel de Indian. Pluriel de indice.

Where the eye mixes Indians and indices

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Indians (VCCVVCC) and indices (VCCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
Indians
7 ch
indices

Visual trap between Indians and indices

A purely visual mix-up. Indians (\ˈɪn.di.ənz\) and indices (\ɛ̃.dis\) 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 49855, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Indians is recorded at frequency rank #44,503, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈɪn.di.ənz\. indices is at rank #5,352, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.dis\.

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 49855, this pair ranks #167,349 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Indians vs indices

Shared letters: dins. Private to "Indians": a. Private to "indices": ce.

"Indians" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCC  ·  "indices" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Indians ← idnians · indains · inddians · indianns · indianss · indiasn · indinas · inidans
  • indices ← idnices · indcies · inddices · indicces · indicess · indicse · indiecs · inidces

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Indians" for "indices" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ˈɪn.di.ənz\ versus \ɛ̃.dis\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Indians" or "indices"?
"indices" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,352 in our French list, against #44,503 for "Indians". 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 "Indians" and "indices" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Indians" 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 #167,349 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Indians" and "indices" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Indians vs indignés". 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 #167,349 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list