indigestionvsingestionConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#45,108
“indigestion” frequency rank
#24,635
“ingestion” frequency rank
69743
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indigestion ingestion
Definition Mauvaise digestion. Action d’ingérer.

Where the eye mixes indigestion and ingestion

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. indigestion runs 11 letters (VCCVCVCCVVC) against ingestion's 9 (VCCVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
indigestion
9 ch
ingestion

Why the eye confuses indigestion with ingestion

A purely visual mix-up. indigestion (\ɛ̃.di.ʒɛs.tjɔ̃\) and ingestion (\ɛ̃.ʒɛs.tjɔ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69743, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indigestion is recorded at frequency rank #45,108, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.di.ʒɛs.tjɔ̃\. ingestion is at rank #24,635, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.ʒɛs.tjɔ̃\.

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 69743, this pair ranks #53,990 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of indigestion vs ingestion

Shared letters: eginost. Private to "indigestion": d. Private to "ingestion": -.

"indigestion" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVVC  ·  "ingestion" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indigestion ← idnigestion · inddigestion · indgiestion · indiegstion · indigesiton · indigesstion · indigestino · indigestionn
  • ingestion ← ignestion · inegstion · ingesiton · ingesstion · ingestino · ingestionn · ingestoin · ingesttion

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "indigestion" and "ingestion" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.di.ʒɛs.tjɔ̃\ versus \ɛ̃.ʒɛs.tjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "indigestion" or "ingestion"?
"ingestion" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,635 in our French list, against #45,108 for "indigestion". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "indigestion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ingestion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #53,990 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indigestion" and "ingestion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inception vs ingestion". 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 #53,990 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