provenganvsproveníanTell them apart

Which to use

“provengan” and “provenían” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#41,565
“provengan” frequency rank
#27,362
“provenían” frequency rank
68927
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature provengan provenían
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de provenir. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de provenir.

Where the eye mixes provengan and provenían

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. provengan (CCVCVCCVC) and provenían (CCVCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
provengan
9 ch
provenían

Visual trap between provengan and provenían

A purely visual mix-up. provengan ([pɾoˈβ̞ẽŋgãn]) and provenían ([pɾoβ̞eˈniãn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - g in “provengan” becomes í in “provenían”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68927, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

provengan is recorded at frequency rank #41,565, classified as averb, pronounced [pɾoˈβ̞ẽŋgãn]. provenían is at rank #27,362, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾoβ̞eˈniãn].

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 68927, this pair ranks #33,294 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of provengan vs provenían

Shared letters: aenoprv. Private to "provengan": g. Private to "provenían": í.

"provengan" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC  ·  "provenían" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • provengan ← porvengan · pprovengan · probengan · proevngan · provegnan · provenagn · provengann · provenggan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "provengan" for "provenían" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([pɾoˈβ̞ẽŋgãn] versus [pɾoβ̞eˈniãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "provengan" or "provenían" show up more?
"provenían" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,362 in our Spanish list, against #41,565 for "provengan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "provengan" and "provenían" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "provengan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "provenían" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #33,294 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "provengan" and "provenían" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "provengan vs provenzal". 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 #33,294 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