indiquevsiniqueWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,772
“indique” frequency rank
#42,947
“inique” frequency rank
44719
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indique inique
Definition Qualifie les composés acides de l’indium et de l’oxygène. Qui n'est pas juste, pas égal ; qui manque d’équité.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set indique and inique apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
indique
6 ch
inique

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. indique (\ɛ̃.dik\) and inique (\i.nik\) 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 44719, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indique is recorded at frequency rank #1,772, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.dik\. inique is at rank #42,947, tagged as anadj, pronounced \i.nik\.

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 44719, this pair ranks #208,319 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of indique vs inique

Shared letters: einqu. Private to "indique": d. Private to "inique": -.

"indique" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV  ·  "inique" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indiqueidnique · inddique · indiqeu · indiqque · indiuqe · indqiue · inidque · inndique
  • iniqueiinque · iniqeu · iniqque · iniuqe · innique · inqiue · niique

Frequency comparison

indique#1,772
inique#42,947

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "indique" and "inique" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.dik\ versus \i.nik\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "indique" or "inique"?
"indique" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,772 in our French list, against #42,947 for "inique". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering indique vs inique

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “indique” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list