Which to use
“provider” is a noun and “provides” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,087
- “provider” frequency rank
- #1,671
- “provides” frequency rank
- 7758
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | provider | provides |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | One who, or that which, provides a service, commodity, or the means for subsistence. | third-person singular simple present indicative of provide |
Where the eye mixes provider and provides
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: provider vs provides
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: provider is /pɹəˈvaɪ.də(ɹ)/ while provides is /pɹəˈvaɪdz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “provider” becomes s in “provides”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7758, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
provider is recorded at frequency rank #6,087, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɹəˈvaɪ.də(ɹ)/. 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 7758, this pair ranks #505,710 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of provider vs provides
Shared letters: deioprv. Private to "provider": -. Private to "provides": s.
"provider" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC · "provides" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "provider" for "provides" ever safe?
Which is more common, "provider" or "provides"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "provider" and "provides" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "provider" 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 #505,710 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "provider" and "provides" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "profiler vs provider". 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 #505,710 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.