Which to use
“provisional” is an adjective and “provisionally” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,948
- “provisional” frequency rank
- #37,644
- “provisionally” frequency rank
- 49592
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | provisional | provisionally |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Temporary, but with the intention of eventually becoming permanent or being replaced by a permanent equivalent. | In a provisional way; temporarily. |
Letter map: provisional vs provisionally
Shared letters muted; letters that set provisional and provisionally apart highlighted. Shared run: 11. provisional runs 11 letters (CCVCVCVVCVC) against provisionally's 13 (CCVCVCVVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - provisional and provisionally
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: provisional is anadjective and provisionallyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “provisional” sits inside “provisionally”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49592, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
provisional is recorded at frequency rank #11,948, classified as anadj, pronounced /pɹəˈvɪʒənəl/. provisionally is at rank #37,644, tagged as anadv.
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 49592, this pair ranks #182,145 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of provisional vs provisionally
Shared letters: ailnoprsv. Private to "provisional": -. Private to "provisionally": y.
"provisional" · 11 letters · shape CCVCVCVVCVC · "provisionally" · 13 letters · shape CCVCVCVVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- provisional ← porvisional · pprovisional · proivsional · proviisonal · provisinoal · provisioanl · provisionall · provisionla
- provisionally ← porvisionally · pprovisionally · proivsionally · proviisonally · provisinoally · provisioanlly · provisionallyy · provisionaly
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "provisional" for "provisionally" ever safe?
Which is more common, "provisional" or "provisionally"?
After this comparison
Pair "provisional" vs "provisionally" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "provisional" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "provisionally" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #182,145 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "provisional" and "provisionally" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "provisional vs provisions". 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 #182,145 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.