Advice or advise?
advice is a noun meaning “An opinion offered to guide behavior in an effort to be helpful”; advise is a verb meaning “To give advice to; to offer an opinion to, as worthy or expedient to be followed”. Use advice as a noun and advise as a verb. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) advice is about 6.2 times as common as advise.
What is the difference between advice and advise?
| advice | advise | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | verb |
| Meaning | An opinion offered to guide behavior in an effort to be helpful In language about financial transactions executed by formal documents, an advisory document | To give advice to; to offer an opinion to, as worthy or expedient to be followed To recommend; to offer as advice |
| Example | She was offered various pieces of advice on what to do | The dentist advised me to brush three times a day |
| Forms | advices | advises, advising, advised |
| Pronunciation | /ədˈvaɪs/ | /ədˈvaɪz/ |
| In writing | 76 times per million words | 12 times per million words |
Sources: advice and advise in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of advice and advise
advice
- 1
An opinion offered to guide behavior in an effort to be helpful
She was offered various pieces of advice on what to do
- 2
In language about financial transactions executed by formal documents, an advisory document
An advice of an incoming settlement payment order may be given to an off-line receiving bank
- 3
In commercial language, information communicated by letter; used chiefly in reference to drafts or bills of exchange
a letter of advice
- 4
A communication providing information, such as how an uncertain area of law might apply to possible future actions
An advice issued by a Monitoring Committee could be applicable in a Dutch court
- 5
Counseling to perform a specific legal act
- 6
Counseling to perform a specific illegal act
advise
- 1
To give advice to; to offer an opinion to, as worthy or expedient to be followed
The dentist advised me to brush three times a day
- 2
To recommend; to offer as advice
The dentist advised brushing three times a day
- 3
To formally give information or notice to; to inform or counsel
We were advised of the risk
- 4
To deliver judgment after a case has been reserved for further consideration
- 5
To provide information to a sovereign or head of state which they have previously asked for
Empress, I advise you that your audience with the Prime Minister is in 15 minutes, ma'am
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, advice or advise?
advice appears 76 times per million words; advise 12 times per million words.
advice 76 times per million wordsadvise 12 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search advice vs advise?
“advice vs advise” is searched about 27,100 times a month on Google and 2,340 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“advise vs advice”, “advice or advise”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.