propensavsproveníaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: propensa is a adjective, provenía is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“propensa” is an adjective and “provenía” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,093
“propensa” frequency rank
#23,190
“provenía” frequency rank
65283
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature propensa provenía
Definition Forma del femenino singular de propenso. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de provenir.

Where the eye mixes propensa and provenía

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. propensa (CCVCVCCV) and provenía (CCVCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
propensa
8 ch
provenía

Why the eye confuses propensa with provenía

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: propensa is [pɾoˈpẽnsa] while provenía is [pɾoβ̞eˈnia]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

propensa is recorded at frequency rank #42,093, classified as anadj, pronounced [pɾoˈpẽnsa]. provenía is at rank #23,190, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾoβ̞eˈnia].

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 65283, this pair ranks #43,107 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of propensa vs provenía

Shared letters: aenopr. Private to "propensa": s. Private to "provenía": ví.

"propensa" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV  ·  "provenía" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • propensa ← porpensa · ppropensa · proepnsa · propenas · propennsa · propesna · propnesa · proppensa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "propensa" and "provenía" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "propensa" is an adjective and "provenía" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "propensa" vs "provenía" - which ranks higher?
"provenía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,190 in our Spanish list, against #42,093 for "propensa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "propensa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "provenía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,107 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "propensa" and "provenía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "propensa vs propensas". 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 #43,107 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list