Which to use
“apologies” is a noun and “apologise” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,889
- “apologies” frequency rank
- #11,833
- “apologise” frequency rank
- 20722
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | apologies | apologise |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of apology | Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of apologize. |
Where the eye mixes apologies and apologise
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. apologies (VCVCVCVVC) and apologise (VCVCVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: apologies vs apologise
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: apologies is /əˈpɒləd͡ʒiːz/ while apologise is /əˈpɒləˌd͡ʒaɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (es ↔ se) - a transposition the eye reads straight past, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20722, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
apologies is recorded at frequency rank #8,889, classified as anoun, pronounced /əˈpɒləd͡ʒiːz/. apologise is at rank #11,833, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈpɒləˌd͡ʒaɪz/.
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 20722, this pair ranks #429,127 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of apologies vs apologise
Shared letters: aegilops. Private to "apologies": -. Private to "apologise": -.
"apologies" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCVVC · "apologise" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "apologies" and "apologise" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "apologies" or "apologise" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "apologies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "apologise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #429,127 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "apologies" and "apologise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apologise vs apologist". 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 #429,127 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.