indicatifsvsindicationsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: indicatifs is a adjective, indications is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“indicatifs” is an adjective and “indications” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,149
“indicatifs” frequency rank
#7,977
“indications” frequency rank
57126
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indicatifs indications
Definition Masculin pluriel de indicatif. Pluriel de indication.

Where the eye mixes indicatifs and indications

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

10 ch
indicatifs
11 ch
indications

Why the eye confuses indicatifs with indications

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: indicatifs is \ɛ̃.di.ka.tif\ while indications is \ɛ̃.di.ka.sjɔ̃\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57126, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indicatifs is recorded at frequency rank #49,149, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.di.ka.tif\. indications is at rank #7,977, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.di.ka.sjɔ̃\.

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 57126, this pair ranks #116,901 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of indicatifs vs indications

Shared letters: acdinst. Private to "indicatifs": f. Private to "indications": o.

"indicatifs" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVCC  ·  "indications" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indicatifsidnicatifs · indciatifs · inddicatifs · indiactifs · indicaitfs · indicatfis · indicatiffs · indicatifss
  • indicationsidnications · indciations · inddications · indiactions · indicaitons · indicatinos · indicationns · indicationss

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "indicatifs" for "indications" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "indicatifs" is an adjective and "indications" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "indicatifs" or "indications" show up more?
"indications" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,977 in our French list, against #49,149 for "indicatifs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "indicatifs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "indications" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #116,901 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indicatifs" and "indications" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "incitatifs vs indicatifs". 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 #116,901 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