promovsprovocConfusable pair

Which to use

“promo” and “provoc” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,012
“promo” frequency rank
#39,476
“provoc” frequency rank
45488
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature promo provoc
Definition Promotion. Provocation.

Where the eye mixes promo and provoc

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. promo runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against provoc's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
promo
6 ch
provoc

Look-alike desk: promo vs provoc

A purely visual mix-up. promo (\pʁɔ.mo\) and provoc (\pʁɔ.vɔk\) 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 45488, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

promo is recorded at frequency rank #6,012, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.mo\. provoc is at rank #39,476, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.vɔk\.

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 45488, this pair ranks #202,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of promo vs provoc

Shared letters: opr. Private to "promo": m. Private to "provoc": cv.

"promo" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "provoc" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • promo ← pormo · ppromo · prmoo · prommo · proom · prromo · rpomo
  • provoc ← porvoc · pprovoc · proovc · provco · provocc · provvoc · prrovoc · prvooc

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "promo" and "provoc" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\pʁɔ.mo\ versus \pʁɔ.vɔk\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "promo" or "provoc"?
"promo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,012 in our French list, against #39,476 for "provoc". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "promo" and "provoc" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "promo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "provoc" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #202,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "promo" and "provoc" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "proof vs provoc". 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 #202,367 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