provocadovsprovocanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,215
“provocado” frequency rank
#10,913
“provocan” frequency rank
18128
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature provocado provocan
Definition Participio de provocar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de provocar.

Where the eye mixes provocado and provocan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. provocado runs 9 letters (CCVCVCVCV) against provocan's 8 (CCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
provocado
8 ch
provocan

Why the eye confuses provocado with provocan

A purely visual mix-up. provocado ([pɾoβ̞oˈkað̞o]) and provocan ([pɾoˈβ̞okãn]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18128, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

provocado is recorded at frequency rank #7,215, classified as averb, pronounced [pɾoβ̞oˈkað̞o]. provocan is at rank #10,913, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾoˈβ̞okãn].

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 18128, this pair ranks #269,236 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of provocado vs provocan

Shared letters: acoprv. Private to "provocado": d. Private to "provocan": n.

"provocado" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV  ·  "provocan" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • provocado ← porvocado · pprovocado · probocado · proovcado · provcoado · provoacdo · provocaddo · provocaod
  • provocan ← porvocan · pprovocan · probocan · proovcan · provcoan · provoacn · provocann · provoccan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "provocado" for "provocan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([pɾoβ̞oˈkað̞o] versus [pɾoˈβ̞okãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "provocado" vs "provocan" - which ranks higher?
"provocado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,215 in our Spanish list, against #10,913 for "provocan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "provocado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "provocan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #269,236 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "provocado" and "provocan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "provocaba vs provocan". 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 #269,236 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