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PlainSpell

provision

pro·vi·sion/pɹəˈvɪʒ.ən/noun, verb

provision is spelled P-R-O-V-I-S-I-O-N, 3 syllables: pro·vi·sion. The wrong spelling people search most is provisiosn: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 714 of all searches for the word. Provision is a noun meaning “An item of goods or supplies, especially food, obtained for future use”. The plural of provision is provisions.

How many letters and syllables are in provision?

Letters9: P-R-O-V-I-S-I-O-N
Syllables3: pro·vi·sion
In writing14 times per million words; the 5,679th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, provisiosn, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them)

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).

How do you spell provision?

Provision is spelled P-R-O-V-I-S-I-O-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 706 of the searches for provision in either form.

provisionthe right spelling7,050 searches a month
provisiosnan extra s10 searches a month

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 provision?

Provision appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,679th 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 provision?

  • /pɹəˈvɪʒ.ən/

Provision has 3 syllables, split pro·vi·sion in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-provision.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of provision

  • provisions plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • provisioning participle, present
  • provisioned participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does provision mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    An item of goods or supplies, especially food, obtained for future use.

  2. 2

    The act of providing, or making previous preparation.

  3. 3

    Money set aside for a future event.

  4. 4

    A liability or contra account to recognise likely future adverse events associated with current transactions.

    We increased our provision for bad debts on credit sales going into the recession.

  5. 5

    A clause in a legal instrument, a law, etc., providing for a particular matter; stipulation; proviso.

    An arrest shall be made in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

  6. 6

    Regular induction into a benefice, comprehending nomination, collation, and installation.

  7. 7

    UKA nomination by the pope to a benefice before it became vacant, depriving the patron of his right of presentation.

verb

  1. 1

    To supply with provisions.

    to provision an army

  2. 2

    To supply (a user) with an account, resources, etc. so that they can use a system; to install the necessary software on a bare-bones system so it can be used for a specific purpose.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate provision?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of provision: provn..

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Provision in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchprovision (item of goods or supplies obtained for future…), provisionner (to supply with provisions)
GermanVorräte, Proviant, Vorrat, Bevorratung, Vorhaltung, Vorkehrung (item of goods or supplies obtained for future…)
Portugueseprovisão, mantimento (item of goods or supplies obtained for future…), prover, aprovisionar, provisionar (to supply with provisions)
Spanishprovisión, alforja (item of goods or supplies obtained for future…), aprovisionar, avituallar, pertrechar, apertrechar (to supply with provisions)

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 provision come from?

From Middle English provisioun, from Old French provisïon, from Latin prōvīsiō (“preparation, foresight”), from prōvidēre (“provide”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after provision