Which to use
“provision” is a noun and “provisional” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,727
- “provision” frequency rank
- #11,948
- “provisional” frequency rank
- 17675
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | provision | provisional |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An item of goods or supplies, especially food, obtained for future use. | Temporary, but with the intention of eventually becoming permanent or being replaced by a permanent equivalent. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set provision and provisional apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: provision is /pɹəˈvɪʒ.ən/ while provisional is /pɹəˈvɪʒənəl/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “provision” sits inside “provisional”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17675, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
provision is recorded at frequency rank #5,727, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɹəˈvɪʒ.ən/. provisional is at rank #11,948, tagged as anadj, pronounced /pɹəˈvɪʒənəl/.
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 17675, this pair ranks #449,877 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of provision vs provisional
Shared letters: inoprsv. Private to "provision": -. Private to "provisional": al.
"provision" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVVC · "provisional" · 11 letters · shape CCVCVCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- provision ← porvision · pprovision · proivsion · proviison · provisino · provisionn · provisoin · provission
- provisional ← porvisional · pprovisional · proivsional · proviisonal · provisinoal · provisioanl · provisionall · provisionla
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "provision" and "provisional" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "provision" or "provisional"?
Remembering provision vs provisional
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “provision”; for an adjective, it's “provisional”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “provision” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable