provocavsprovocadoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,543
“provoca” frequency rank
#7,215
“provocado” frequency rank
11758
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature provoca provocado
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de provocar. Participio de provocar.

Where the eye mixes provoca and provocado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. provoca runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against provocado's 9 (CCVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
provoca
9 ch
provocado

Visual trap between provoca and provocado

A purely visual mix-up. provoca ([pɾoˈβ̞oka]) and provocado ([pɾoβ̞oˈkað̞o]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “provoca” sits inside “provocado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11758, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

provoca is recorded at frequency rank #4,543, classified as averb, pronounced [pɾoˈβ̞oka]. provocado is at rank #7,215, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾoβ̞oˈkað̞o].

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 11758, this pair ranks #293,995 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of provoca vs provocado

Shared letters: acoprv. Private to "provoca": -. Private to "provocado": d.

"provoca" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "provocado" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • provoca ← porvoca · pprovoca · proboca · proovca · provcoa · provoac · provocca · provvoca
  • provocado ← porvocado · pprovocado · probocado · proovcado · provcoado · provoacdo · provocaddo · provocaod

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "provoca" for "provocado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([pɾoˈβ̞oka] versus [pɾoβ̞oˈkað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "provoca" vs "provocado" - which ranks higher?
"provoca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,543 in our Spanish list, against #7,215 for "provocado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "provoca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "provocado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #293,995 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "provoca" and "provocado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "provida vs provoca". 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 #293,995 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