indicaçãovsindignaçãoTell them apart

Which to use

“indicação” and “indignação” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,776
“indicação” frequency rank
#11,483
“indignação” frequency rank
15259
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indicação indignação
Definition ato ou efeito de indicar; designação sentimento de cólera ou de desprezo excitado por uma afronta, uma acção vergonhosa, uma injustiça frisante, etc

Where the eye mixes indicação and indignação

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. indicação runs 9 letters (VCCVCVCVV) against indignação's 10 (VCCVCCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
indicação
10 ch
indignação

Visual trap between indicação and indignação

A purely visual mix-up. indicação (/ĩ.di.kɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and indignação (/ĩ.di.ɡnɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) 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 15259, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indicação is recorded at frequency rank #3,776, classified as anoun, pronounced /ĩ.di.kɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. indignação is at rank #11,483, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ĩ.di.ɡnɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.

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 15259, this pair ranks #56,619 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of indicação vs indignação

Shared letters: adinoãç. Private to "indicação": c. Private to "indignação": g.

"indicação" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVV  ·  "indignação" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "indicação" and "indignação" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ĩ.di.kɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /ĩ.di.ɡnɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "indicação" vs "indignação" - which ranks higher?
"indicação" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,776 in our Portuguese list, against #11,483 for "indignação". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "indicação" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "indignação" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,619 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indicação" and "indignação" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indignação vs indignado". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #56,619 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list