diff --git a/asv_bench/benchmarks/indexing.py b/asv_bench/benchmarks/indexing.py
index 38d1f64bd5f4e..e95e5bec5849c 100644
--- a/asv_bench/benchmarks/indexing.py
+++ b/asv_bench/benchmarks/indexing.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 lower-level methods directly on Index and subclasses, see index_object.py,
 indexing_engine.py, and index_cached.py
 """
+import itertools
 import string
 import warnings
 
@@ -256,7 +257,9 @@ def setup(self, index):
             "non_monotonic": CategoricalIndex(list("abc" * N)),
         }
         self.data = indices[index]
-        self.data_unique = CategoricalIndex(list(string.printable))
+        self.data_unique = CategoricalIndex(
+            ["".join(perm) for perm in itertools.permutations(string.printable, 3)]
+        )
 
         self.int_scalar = 10000
         self.int_list = list(range(10000))