prove
/ˈpɹuv/verb, noun
prove is spelled P-R-O-V-E. The wrong spelling people search most is proove: about 150 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Prove is a verb meaning “To demonstrate that something is true or viable; to give proof for; to bear out; to testify”.
How many letters and syllables are in prove?
| Letters | 5: P-R-O-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 59 times per million words; the 1,758th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, proove, about 150 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell prove?
Prove is spelled P-R-O-V-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for prove in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is prove?
Prove appears 59 times per million words in written English, the 1,758th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce prove?
- UK /ˈpɹuːv/
- British /ˈpɹʉwv/
- US /ˈpɹuv/
As a verb: /pɹəʊv/.
Prove has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-prove.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with prove
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: proof.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with prove?
6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as prove from its last stressed vowel (/uv/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: pervo.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of prove
- proves present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- proving participle, present
- proved past, participle, singular, he/she/it, plural
- proven participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does prove mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To demonstrate that something is true or viable; to give proof for; to bear out; to testify.
I will prove that my method is more effective than yours.
- 2
To turn out; to manifest.
It proved to be a cold day.
- 3
To turn out to be.
Have an exit strategy should your calculations prove incorrect.
- 4
To put to the test, to make trial of.
They took the experimental car to the proving-grounds.
- 5
To ascertain or establish the genuineness or validity of; to verify.
to prove a will
- 6
archaicTo experience.
- 7
datedTo take a trial impression of; to take a proof of.
to prove a page
- 8
Alternative form of proof (“allow (dough) to rise; test the activeness of (yeast); pressure-test (a firearm)”).
- 9
simple past of proove
noun
- 1
The process of dough proofing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Prove in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | prouver , se révéler, s’avérer |
| German | beweisen, prüfen , sich herausstellen, sich zeigen |
| Portuguese | provar, demonstrar , experimentar , validar, comprovar |
| Spanish | probar, constatar, comprobar, ejecutoriar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does prove come from?
From Middle English proven, from Old English prōfian (“to esteem, regard as, evince, try, prove”) and Old French prover (“to prove”), both from Latin probō (“test, try, examine, approve, show to be good or fit, prove”, verb), from probus (“good, worthy, excellent”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-bʰuH-s (“being in front, prominent”), from *pro-, *per- (“toward”) + *bʰuH- (“to be”). Displaced native Middle English sothen (“to prove”), from Old English sōþian (“to prove”). Doublet of probe. More at for, be, soothe.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).