printsvsprizesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,287
“prints” frequency rank
#7,046
“prizes” frequency rank
13333
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prints prizes
Definition plural of print plural of prize

Where the eye mixes prints and prizes

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

6 ch
prints
6 ch
prizes

Visual trap between prints and prizes

A purely visual mix-up. prints (/pɹɪnts/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13333, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prints is recorded at frequency rank #6,287, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɹɪnts/. 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 13333, this pair ranks #476,409 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of prints vs prizes

Shared letters: iprs. Private to "prints": nt. Private to "prizes": ez.

"prints" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC  ·  "prizes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prints ← pirnts · pprints · prinnts · prinst · printss · printts · pritns · prnits
  • prizes ← pirzes · pprizes · priezs · prizess · prizse · prizzes · prrizes · przies

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "prints" for "prizes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/pɹɪnts/ versus /ˈpɹaɪzɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "prints" or "prizes" show up more?
"prints" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,287 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "prints" 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 #476,409 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prints" 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 #476,409 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