provoquantvsprovoquentConfusable pair

Quick tell: provoquant is a adjective, provoquent is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“provoquant” is an adjective and “provoquent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,559
“provoquant” frequency rank
#12,842
“provoquent” frequency rank
23401
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature provoquant provoquent
Definition Orthographe ancienne de provocant (qui provoque, choquant), qui a été usuelle jusqu’à 1880 environ, et est encore parfois rencontrée (mais pas à recommander). Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de provoquer.

Where the eye mixes provoquant and provoquent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. provoquant and provoquent follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
provoquant
10 ch
provoquent

Look-alike desk: provoquant vs provoquent

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: provoquant is \pʁɔ.vɔ.kɑ̃\ while provoquent is \pʁɔ.vɔk\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “provoquant” becomes e in “provoquent”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23401, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

provoquant is recorded at frequency rank #10,559, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁɔ.vɔ.kɑ̃\. provoquent is at rank #12,842, tagged as averb, 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 23401, this pair ranks #352,706 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of provoquant vs provoquent

Shared letters: nopqrtuv. Private to "provoquant": a. Private to "provoquent": e.

"provoquant" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCVVCC  ·  "provoquent" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • provoquant ← porvoquant · pprovoquant · proovquant · provoqaunt · provoqquant · provoquannt · provoquantt · provoquatn
  • provoquent ← porvoquent · pprovoquent · proovquent · provoqeunt · provoqquent · provoquennt · provoquentt · provoquetn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "provoquant" and "provoquent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "provoquant" is an adjective and "provoquent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "provoquant" or "provoquent" show up more?
"provoquant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,559 in our French list, against #12,842 for "provoquent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "provoquant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "provoquent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #352,706 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "provoquant" and "provoquent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "provoc vs provoquent". 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 #352,706 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