proveníavsprovenirWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,190
“provenía” frequency rank
#26,193
“provenir” frequency rank
49383
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature provenía provenir
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de provenir. Nacer, surgir o proceder de un punto de origen (lugar, persona, causa, etc.)

Where the eye mixes provenía and provenir

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

8 ch
provenía
8 ch
provenir

Look-alike desk: provenía vs provenir

A purely visual mix-up. provenía ([pɾoβ̞eˈnia]) and provenir ([pɾoβ̞eˈniɾ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49383, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

provenía is recorded at frequency rank #23,190, classified as averb, pronounced [pɾoβ̞eˈnia]. provenir is at rank #26,193, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾoβ̞eˈniɾ].

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 49383, this pair ranks #109,170 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of provenía vs provenir

Shared letters: enoprv. Private to "provenía": aí. Private to "provenir": i.

"provenía" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVV  ·  "provenir" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • provenir ← pprovenir · probenir · proevnir · proveinr · provenirr · provennir · provenri · provneir

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "provenía" for "provenir" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([pɾoβ̞eˈnia] versus [pɾoβ̞eˈniɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "provenía" or "provenir"?
"provenía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,190 in our Spanish list, against #26,193 for "provenir". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "provenía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "provenir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #109,170 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "provenía" and "provenir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "provenía 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 #109,170 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