priceyvsprizedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,660
“pricey” frequency rank
#18,662
“prized” frequency rank
37322
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pricey prized
Definition Expensive, dear. Highly valued, cherished.

Where the eye mixes pricey and prized

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pricey (CCVCVV) and prized (CCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
pricey
6 ch
prized

Look-alike desk: pricey vs prized

A purely visual mix-up. pricey (/ˈpɹaɪsi/) and prized (/pɹaɪzd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37322, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pricey is recorded at frequency rank #18,660, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɹaɪsi/. 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 37322, this pair ranks #295,552 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pricey vs prized

Shared letters: eipr. Private to "pricey": cy. Private to "prized": dz.

"pricey" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV  ·  "prized" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pricey ← pircey · ppricey · prciey · priccey · priceyy · pricye · priecy · prricey
  • prized ← pirzed · pprized · priezd · prizde · prizedd · prizzed · prrized · przied

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pricey" and "prized" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpɹaɪsi/ versus /pɹaɪzd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pricey" vs "prized" - which ranks higher?
"pricey" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,660 in our English list, against #18,662 for "prized". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "pricey" and "prized" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pricey" 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 #295,552 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pricey" 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 #295,552 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