Which to use
“provinces” and “provins” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,213
- “provinces” frequency rank
- #32,965
- “provins” frequency rank
- 36178
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | provinces | provins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de province. | Pluriel de provin. |
Where the eye mixes provinces and provins
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. provinces runs 9 letters (CCVCVCCVC) against provins's 7 (CCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: provinces vs provins
A purely visual mix-up. provinces (\pʁɔ.vɛ̃s\) and provins (\pʁɔ.vɛ̃\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36178, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
provinces is recorded at frequency rank #3,213, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.vɛ̃s\. 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 36178, this pair ranks #271,474 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of provinces vs provins
Shared letters: inoprsv. Private to "provinces": ce. Private to "provins": -.
"provinces" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC · "provins" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "provinces" and "provins" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "provinces" vs "provins" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "provinces" 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 #271,474 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "provinces" 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 #271,474 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.