proveyóvsprovocóWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#44,391
“proveyó” frequency rank
#5,032
“provocó” frequency rank
49423
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature proveyó provocó
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de proveer o de proveerse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de provocar.

Where the eye mixes proveyó and provocó

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
proveyó
7 ch
provocó

Why the eye confuses proveyó with provocó

A purely visual mix-up. proveyó ([pɾoβ̞eˈʝo]) and provocó ([pɾoβ̞oˈko]) 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 49423, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

proveyó is recorded at frequency rank #44,391, classified as averb, pronounced [pɾoβ̞eˈʝo]. provocó is at rank #5,032, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾoβ̞oˈko].

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 49423, this pair ranks #108,946 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of proveyó vs provocó

Shared letters: oprvó. Private to "proveyó": ey. Private to "provocó": c.

"proveyó" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVV  ·  "provocó" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "proveyó" and "provocó" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([pɾoβ̞eˈʝo] versus [pɾoβ̞oˈko]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "proveyó" or "provocó" show up more?
"provocó" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,032 in our Spanish list, against #44,391 for "proveyó". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "proveyó" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "provocó" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #108,946 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "proveyó" and "provocó" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "provea vs proveyó". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #108,946 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