Which to use
“provoke” is a verb and “provost” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,035
- “provoke” frequency rank
- #23,956
- “provost” frequency rank
- 38991
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | provoke | provost |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To cause someone to become annoyed or angry. | One placed in charge: a head, a chief |
Where the eye mixes provoke and provost
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. provoke (CCVCVCV) and provost (CCVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between provoke and provost
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: provoke is /pɹəˈvəʊk/ while provost is /ˈpɹɒvəst/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38991, 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/. provost is at rank #23,956, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɹɒvəst/.
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 38991, this pair ranks #280,845 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of provoke vs provost
Shared letters: oprv. Private to "provoke": ek. Private to "provost": st.
"provoke" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "provost" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "provoke" and "provost" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "provoke" vs "provost" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "provoke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "provost" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #280,845 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "provoke" and "provost" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "proviso vs provost". 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 #280,845 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.