provvsproveaTell them apart

Quick tell: prov is a noun, provea is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“prov” is a noun and “provea” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,938
“prov” frequency rank
#38,324
“provea” frequency rank
70262
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prov provea
Definition Prueba. Acción de probar. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de proveer o de proveerse.

Where the eye mixes prov and provea

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
prov
6 ch
provea

Look-alike desk: prov vs provea

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prov is [ˈprɯːv] while provea is [pɾoˈβ̞ea]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “prov” sits inside “provea”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70262, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prov is recorded at frequency rank #31,938, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈprɯːv]. provea is at rank #38,324, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾoˈβ̞ea].

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 70262, this pair ranks #30,101 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of prov vs provea

Shared letters: oprv. Private to "prov": -. Private to "provea": ae.

"prov" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "provea" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • provporv · pprov · prob · provv · prrov · prvo · rpov
  • proveaporvea · pprovea · probea · proeva · provae · provvea · prrovea · prvoea

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "prov" for "provea" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prov" is a noun and "provea" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "prov" or "provea"?
"prov" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,938 in our Spanish list, against #38,324 for "provea". 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 "prov" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "provea" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,101 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prov" and "provea" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "presea vs provea". 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 #30,101 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