Which to use
“promote” and “provoke” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,697
- “promote” frequency rank
- #15,035
- “provoke” frequency rank
- 17732
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | promote | provoke |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To raise (someone) to a more important, responsible, or remunerative job or rank. | To cause someone to become annoyed or angry. |
Where the eye mixes promote and provoke
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. promote and provoke follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses promote with provoke
A purely visual mix-up. promote (/pɹəˈmoʊt/) and provoke (/pɹəˈvəʊk/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17732, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
promote is recorded at frequency rank #2,697, classified as averb, pronounced /pɹəˈmoʊt/. provoke is at rank #15,035, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɹəˈvəʊk/.
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 17732, this pair ranks #449,531 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of promote vs provoke
Shared letters: eopr. Private to "promote": mt. Private to "provoke": kv.
"promote" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "provoke" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "promote" and "provoke" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "promote" vs "provoke" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "promote" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "provoke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #449,531 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "promote" and "provoke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Provo vs provoke". 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 #449,531 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.