Which to use
“provides” is a verb and “provinces” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,671
- “provides” frequency rank
- #6,825
- “provinces” frequency rank
- 8496
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | provides | provinces |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of provide | plural of province |
Where the eye mixes provides and provinces
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses provides with provinces
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: provides is /pɹəˈvaɪdz/ while provinces is /ˈpɹɑvɪnsɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8496, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
provides is recorded at frequency rank #1,671, classified as averb, pronounced /pɹəˈvaɪdz/. provinces is at rank #6,825, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɹɑvɪnsɪz/.
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 8496, this pair ranks #502,198 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of provides vs provinces
Shared letters: eioprsv. Private to "provides": d. Private to "provinces": cn.
"provides" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC · "provinces" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "provides" for "provinces" ever safe?
Frequency check: "provides" vs "provinces" - 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 "provides" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "provinces" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #502,198 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "provides" and "provinces" 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 #502,198 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.