organisevsorganizeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“organise” and “organize” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,015
“organise” frequency rank
#7,370
“organize” frequency rank
22385
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature organise organize
Definition Non-Oxford British standard spelling of organize. To arrange in working order.

Letter map: organise vs organize

Shared letters muted; letters that set organise and organize apart highlighted. Shared run: 7. organise and organize follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
organise
8 ch
organize

Corpus notes: organise and organize

organise and organize are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - s in “organise” becomes z in “organize”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

organise is recorded at frequency rank #15,015, classified as averb. organize is at rank #7,370, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɔːɡənaɪz/.

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 22385, this pair ranks #416,977 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of organise vs organize

Shared letters: aeginor. Private to "organise": s. Private to "organize": z.

"organise" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV  ·  "organize" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • organise ← ogranise · oragnise · orgainse · organies · organisse · organnise · organsie · orgganise
  • organize ← ogranize · oragnize · orgainze · organiez · organizze · organnize · organzie · orgganize

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "organise" for "organize" ever safe?
No. They differ by a single letter - s in “organise” becomes z in “organize”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "organise" or "organize"?
"organize" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,370 in our English list, against #15,015 for "organise". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "organise" vs "organize" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "organise" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "organize" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #416,977 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "organise" and "organize" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "organise vs organist". 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 #416,977 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list