promisvsprovinsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: promis is a adjective, provins is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“promis” is an adjective and “provins” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,296
“promis” frequency rank
#32,965
“provins” frequency rank
35261
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature promis provins
Definition Qui fait l’objet d'une promesse. Pluriel de provin.

Where the eye mixes promis and provins

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. promis runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against provins's 7 (CCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
promis
7 ch
provins

Visual trap between promis and provins

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: promis is \pʁɔ.mi\ while provins is \pʁɔ.vɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35261, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

promis is recorded at frequency rank #2,296, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁɔ.mi\. provins is at rank #32,965, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.vɛ̃\.

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 35261, this pair ranks #278,023 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of promis vs provins

Shared letters: ioprs. Private to "promis": m. Private to "provins": nv.

"promis" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "provins" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • promis ← pormis · ppromis · prmois · proims · promiss · prommis · promsi · prromis
  • provins ← porvins · pprovins · proivns · provinns · provinss · provisn · provnis · provvins

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "promis" for "provins" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "promis" is an adjective and "provins" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "promis" vs "provins" - which ranks higher?
"promis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,296 in our French list, against #32,965 for "provins". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "promis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "provins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #278,023 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "promis" and "provins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "protons vs provins". 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 #278,023 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list