proven
/ˈpɹuː.vn̩/
"proven" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“proven” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #4,111. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #4,111
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 16
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Having been proved; having proved its value or truth.
Corpus desk
Index EN-proven · proven · English
proven · rank #4,111 · 9 variants · 16 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #4,111
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 16 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH prominent
Nearest frequency peer: prominent (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “proven”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- pretend
pretend
95,893 corpus weight
- priest
priest
95,892 corpus weight
- prominent
prominent
95,891 corpus weight
- proven
proven
95,890 corpus weight
- radical
radical
95,889 corpus weight
- remembered
remembered
95,888 corpus weight
What this shows “proven” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | proven |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈpɹuː.vn̩/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #4,111 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 16 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “proven”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around proven (IPA /ˈpɹuː.vn̩/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #4,111 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Having been proved; having proved its value or truth.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for proven, with forms such as "porven", "pproven", and "proevn". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 16 confusable-pair relationships, "Provo", "proves", "proving", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Scottish English, as past participle of preve, a Middle English variant of prove – compare woven (from weave) and cloven (from cleave), both of which feature -eve → -oven. Preve died out in England, but survived in Scotland, where proven developed, ini… The correct English form is proven, spelled P-R-O-V-E-N.
Definition
- 1Having been proved; having proved its value or truth.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how proven appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
It's a proven fact that morphine is a more effective painkiller than acetaminophen is.
Mass lexical comparison is not a proven method for demonstrating relationships between languages.
Etymology
From Scottish English, as past participle of preve, a Middle English variant of prove – compare woven (from weave) and cloven (from cleave), both of which feature -eve → -oven. Preve died out in England, but survived in Scotland, where proven developed, initially in a legal context, as in “The jury ruled that the charges were not proven.” See usage notes for historical usage patterns. Earlier, from Late Latin probō (“test, try, examine, approve, show to be good or fit, prove”, verb), from Latin probus (“good, worthy, excellent”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-bʰuH-s (“being in front, prominent”), from *pro-, *per- (“toward”) + *bʰuH- (“to be”). Morphologically prove + -n.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- porven
- pproven
- proevn
- provenn
- provne
- provven
- prroven
- prvoen
- rpoven
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of proven - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "proven", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).