policesvspricesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#42,829
“polices” frequency rank
#1,403
“prices” frequency rank
44232
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature polices prices
Definition plural of police (“police officer”) plural of price

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set polices and prices apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
polices
6 ch
prices

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. polices (/pəˈliːsɪz/) and prices (/ˈpɹaɪsɪz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44232, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

polices is recorded at frequency rank #42,829, classified as anoun, pronounced /pəˈliːsɪz/. prices is at rank #1,403, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɹaɪsɪz/.

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 44232, this pair ranks #232,497 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of polices vs prices

Shared letters: ceips. Private to "polices": lo. Private to "prices": r.

"polices" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "prices" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • policesoplices · ploices · poilces · polcies · policces · policess · policse · poliecs
  • pricespirces · pprices · prcies · pricces · pricess · pricse · priecs · prrices

Frequency comparison

polices#42,829
prices#1,403

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "polices" and "prices" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/pəˈliːsɪz/ versus /ˈpɹaɪsɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "polices" or "prices"?
"prices" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,403 in our English list, against #42,829 for "polices". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering polices vs prices

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “polices” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list