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Proven and proved are both acceptable past participle forms of the verb prove. This means they can both be used in constructions that are classified as present perfect (as in I have proven or I have proved) or past perfect (as in I had proven or I had proved).

In these cases, these past participle forms are paired with a form of the helping verb (auxiliary verb) has. However, they can also be used in passive constructions that don’t use a helping verb, as in It was proven or It was proved.

While proved can also be used as the simple past tense form of prove, as in You proved me wrong, proven cannot (for example, it would be ungrammatical to say You proven me wrong).

Though both words can technically be used as adjectives, proven is far more commonly used this way, as in a proven method or a proven fact. 

Here’s an example of proven and proved used correctly in the same sentence.

Example: This study has proved that it often takes a long period of time for things that have been scientifically proven to be accepted as proven facts by a majority of people.

Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between proven and proved.

Would proven or proved be more likely to be used in the following sentence?

It is a _____ fact that the earth is round.