indigènesvsindignerWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: indigènes is a adjective, indigner is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“indigènes” is an adjective and “indigner” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,177
“indigènes” frequency rank
#34,574
“indigner” frequency rank
43751
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indigènes indigner
Definition Pluriel de indigène. Remplir quelqu’un d’indignation.

Where the eye mixes indigènes and indigner

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. indigènes runs 9 letters (VCCVCVCVC) against indigner's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
indigènes
8 ch
indigner

Visual trap between indigènes and indigner

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: indigènes is \ɛ̃.di.ʒɛn\ while indigner is \ɛ̃.di.ɲe\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43751, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indigènes is recorded at frequency rank #9,177, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.di.ʒɛn\. indigner is at rank #34,574, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.di.ɲe\.

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 43751, this pair ranks #215,711 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of indigènes vs indigner

Shared letters: degin. Private to "indigènes": sè. Private to "indigner": r.

"indigènes" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC  ·  "indigner" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indigner ← idnigner · inddigner · indginer · indigenr · indiggner · indignerr · indignner · indignre

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "indigènes" for "indigner" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "indigènes" is an adjective and "indigner" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "indigènes" or "indigner"?
"indigènes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,177 in our French list, against #34,574 for "indigner". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "indigènes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "indigner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #215,711 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indigènes" and "indigner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indignent vs indigner". 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 #215,711 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