pricesvsprizedWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: prices is a noun, prized is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“prices” is a noun and “prized” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,403
“prices” frequency rank
#18,662
“prized” frequency rank
20065
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prices prized
Definition plural of price Highly valued, cherished.

Where the eye mixes prices and prized

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. prices and prized follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
prices
6 ch
prized

Why the eye confuses prices with prized

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prices is /ˈpɹaɪsɪz/ while prized is /pɹaɪzd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20065, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prices is recorded at frequency rank #1,403, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɹaɪsɪz/. prized is at rank #18,662, tagged as anadj, pronounced /pɹaɪzd/.

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 20065, this pair ranks #433,731 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of prices vs prized

Shared letters: eipr. Private to "prices": cs. Private to "prized": dz.

"prices" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "prized" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prices ← pirces · pprices · prcies · pricces · pricess · pricse · priecs · prrices
  • prized ← pirzed · pprized · priezd · prizde · prizedd · prizzed · prrized · przied

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "prices" for "prized" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prices" is a noun and "prized" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "prices" or "prized"?
"prices" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,403 in our English list, against #18,662 for "prized". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "prices" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prized" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #433,731 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prices" and "prized" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plied vs prized". 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 #433,731 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