Which to use
“provoke” and “provoked” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,035
- “provoke” frequency rank
- #14,819
- “provoked” frequency rank
- 29854
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | provoke | provoked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To cause someone to become annoyed or angry. | simple past and past participle of provoke |
Where the eye mixes provoke and provoked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. provoke runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against provoked's 8 (CCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: provoke vs provoked
A purely visual mix-up. provoke (/pɹəˈvəʊk/) and provoked (/pɹəˈvoʊkt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “provoke” sits inside “provoked”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29854, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
provoke is recorded at frequency rank #15,035, classified as averb, pronounced /pɹəˈvəʊk/. provoked is at rank #14,819, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɹəˈvoʊkt/.
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 29854, this pair ranks #359,471 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of provoke vs provoked
Shared letters: ekoprv. Private to "provoke": -. Private to "provoked": d.
"provoke" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "provoked" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "provoke" and "provoked" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "provoke" or "provoked"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "provoke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "provoked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #359,471 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "provoke" and "provoked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Provo vs provoke". 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 #359,471 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.