providênciavsprovínciaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,005
“providência” frequency rank
#2,113
“província” frequency rank
16118
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature providência província
Definition medida que se toma para evitar um mal ou para corrigir uma situação irregular ou indesejável divisão regional ou administrativa em alguns estados

Where the eye mixes providência and província

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. providência runs 11 letters (CCVCVCVCCVV) against província's 9 (CCVCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
providência
9 ch
província

Look-alike desk: providência vs província

A purely visual mix-up. providência (/pɾu.vi.ˈdẽ.sjɐ/) and província (/pɾu.ˈvĩ.sjɐ/) 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 16118, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

providência is recorded at frequency rank #14,005, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɾu.vi.ˈdẽ.sjɐ/. província is at rank #2,113, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɾu.ˈvĩ.sjɐ/.

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 16118, this pair ranks #55,501 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of providência vs província

Shared letters: acinoprv. Private to "providência": dê. Private to "província": í.

"providência" · 11 letters · shape CCVCVCVCCVV  ·  "província" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "providência" and "província" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/pɾu.vi.ˈdẽ.sjɐ/ versus /pɾu.ˈvĩ.sjɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "providência" vs "província" - which ranks higher?
"província" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,113 in our Portuguese list, against #14,005 for "providência". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "providência" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "província" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #55,501 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "providência" and "província" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "procedência vs providência". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #55,501 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list