provvsproveeTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#31,938
“prov” frequency rank
#11,477
“provee” frequency rank
43415
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prov provee
Definition Prueba. Acción de probar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de proveer o de proveerse.

Where the eye mixes prov and provee

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

4 ch
prov
6 ch
provee

Look-alike desk: prov vs provee

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prov is [ˈprɯːv] while provee is [pɾoˈβ̞ee]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “prov” sits inside “provee”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43415, 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]. provee is at rank #11,477, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾoˈβ̞ee].

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 43415, this pair ranks #142,779 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prov vs provee

Shared letters: oprv. Private to "prov": -. Private to "provee": e.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • provporv · pprov · prob · provv · prrov · prvo · rpov
  • proveeporvee · pprovee · probee · proeve · prove · provvee · prrovee · prvoee

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "prov" for "provee" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prov" is a noun and "provee" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "prov" or "provee" show up more?
"provee" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,477 in our Spanish list, against #31,938 for "prov". 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 "provee" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #142,779 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prov" and "provee" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "probo vs prov". 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 #142,779 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