Which to use
“provide” and “provides” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #738
- “provide” frequency rank
- #1,671
- “provides” frequency rank
- 2409
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | provide | provides |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make a living; earn money for necessities. | third-person singular simple present indicative of provide |
Where the eye mixes provide and provides
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between provide and provides
A purely visual mix-up. provide (/pɹəˈvaɪd/) and provides (/pɹəˈvaɪdz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “provide” sits inside “provides”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2409, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
provide is recorded at frequency rank #738, classified as averb, pronounced /pɹəˈvaɪd/. provides is at rank #1,671, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɹəˈvaɪdz/.
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 2409, this pair ranks #525,049 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of provide vs provides
Shared letters: deioprv. Private to "provide": -. Private to "provides": s.
"provide" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "provides" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "provide" and "provides" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "provide" vs "provides" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "provide" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "provides" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #525,049 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "provide" and "provides" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "provident vs provides". 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 #525,049 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.