pricesvsprizesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,403
“prices” frequency rank
#7,046
“prizes” frequency rank
8449
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prices prizes
Definition plural of price plural of prize

Where the eye mixes prices and prizes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. prices and prizes 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
prizes

Visual trap between prices and prizes

A purely visual mix-up. prices (/ˈpɹaɪsɪz/) and prizes (/ˈpɹaɪzɪz/) 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 a single letter - c in “prices” becomes z in “prizes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8449, 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/. prizes is at rank #7,046, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɹaɪzɪz/.

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 8449, this pair ranks #502,429 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of prices vs prizes

Shared letters: eiprs. Private to "prices": c. Private to "prizes": z.

"prices" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "prizes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prices ← pirces · pprices · prcies · pricces · pricess · pricse · priecs · prrices
  • prizes ← pirzes · pprizes · priezs · prizess · prizse · prizzes · prrizes · przies

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "prices" and "prizes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpɹaɪsɪz/ versus /ˈpɹaɪzɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "prices" or "prizes"?
"prices" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,403 in our English list, against #7,046 for "prizes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "prizes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #502,429 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prices" and "prizes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plies vs prizes". 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 #502,429 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