Modernisation or modernization?
modernisation is a noun meaning “Alternative spelling of modernization”; modernization is a noun meaning “The act, process, or result of modernizing”. Wiktionary gives them as spellings of the same word. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) modernization is about 2.5 times as common as modernisation.
What is the difference between modernisation and modernization?
| modernisation | modernization | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun |
| Meaning | UKAlternative spelling of modernization | The act, process, or result of modernizing |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Forms | modernisations | modernizations |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˌmɒdənɪˈzeɪʃn̩/ /ˌmɒdənaɪˈzeɪʃn̩/ /ˌmɑdɚnɪˈzeɪʃn̩/ |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words | 2.3 times per million words |
Sources: modernisation and modernization 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 modernisation and modernization
modernisation
- 1
UKAlternative spelling of modernization
modernization
- 1
The act, process, or result of modernizing
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, modernisation or modernization?
modernisation appears about once in every 1 million words; modernization 2.3 times per million words.
modernisation about once in every 1 million wordsmodernization 2.3 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 modernisation vs modernization?
“modernisation vs modernization” is searched about 10 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“modernization vs modernisation”, “modernisation or modernization”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.