provar vs prove, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“provar” and “prove” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,795
“provar” frequency rank: #12,132
“prove” frequency rank: 14927
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	provar	prove
Definition	demonstrar com provas; testemunhar	provar

Where the eye mixes provar and prove

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch

provar

5 ch

prove

Look-alike desk: provar vs prove

A purely visual mix-up. provar (/pɾu.ˈvaɾ/) and prove (/pɹuːv/) 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 14927, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

provar is recorded at frequency rank #2,795, classified as averb, pronounced /pɾu.ˈvaɾ/. prove is at rank #12,132, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɹuːv/.

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 14927, this pair ranks #57,038 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of provar vs prove

Shared letters: oprv. Private to "provar": a. Private to "prove": e.

"provar" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "prove" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

provar ← porvar · pprovar · proavr · provarr · provra · provvar · prrovar · prvoar
prove ← porve · pprove · proev · provve · prrove · prvoe · rpove

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "provar" for "prove" ever safe?

No. They are said differently (/pɾu.ˈvaɾ/ versus /pɹuːv/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Frequency check: "provar" vs "prove" - which ranks higher?

"provar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,795 in our Portuguese list, against #12,132 for "prove". 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 "provar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "prove" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #57,038 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"provar" and "prove" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "proto vs prove". 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 #57,038 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.