Which to use
“promoting” is a verb and “provoking” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,478
- “promoting” frequency rank
- #15,682
- “provoking” frequency rank
- 20160
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | promoting | provoking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of promote | annoying; irritating |
Letter map: promoting vs provoking
Shared letters muted; letters that set promoting and provoking apart highlighted. Shared run: 7.
Role in the sentence - promoting and provoking
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: promoting is averb and provokinganadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
promoting is recorded at frequency rank #4,478, classified as averb, pronounced /pɹəˈmoʊtɪŋ/. provoking is at rank #15,682, tagged as anadj.
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 20160, this pair ranks #433,093 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of promoting vs provoking
Shared letters: ginopr. Private to "promoting": mt. Private to "provoking": kv.
"promoting" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCC · "provoking" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "promoting" for "provoking" ever safe?
Frequency check: "promoting" vs "provoking" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "promoting" and "provoking".
- Full dictionary entry for "promoting" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "provoking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #433,093 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "promoting" and "provoking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "proofing vs provoking". 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 #433,093 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.