Which to use
“province” is a noun and “proving” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,190
- “province” frequency rank
- #7,171
- “proving” frequency rank
- 10361
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | province | proving |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A region of the earth or of a continent; a district or country. | present participle and gerund of prove |
Where the eye mixes province and proving
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. province runs 8 letters (CCVCVCCV) against proving's 7 (CCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between province and proving
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: province is /ˈpɹɑv.ɪns/ while proving is /ˈpɹuːvɪŋ/. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10361, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
province is recorded at frequency rank #3,190, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɹɑv.ɪns/. proving is at rank #7,171, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpɹuːvɪŋ/.
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 10361, this pair ranks #492,732 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of province vs proving
Shared letters: inoprv. Private to "province": ce. Private to "proving": g.
"province" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV · "proving" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "province" for "proving" ever safe?
Which is more common, "province" or "proving"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "province" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "proving" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #492,732 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "province" and "proving" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "proving vs prowling". 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 #492,732 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.