Prise or prize?
prise is a verb meaning “To force (open) with a lever; to pry”; prize is a noun meaning “That which is taken from another; something captured; a thing seized by force…”. Use prise as a verb and prize as a noun (prize is also a verb: “To consider highly valuable; to esteem”). They sound the same (/pɹaɪz/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) prize is about 138 times as common as prise.
What is the difference between prise and prize?
| prise | prize | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | noun, verb, adjective |
| Meaning | To force (open) with a lever; to pry To extract something that is difficult to obtain | That which is taken from another; something captured; a thing seized by force, stratagem, or superior power Anything captured by a belligerent using the rights of war; especially, property captured at sea in virtue of the rights of war, as a vessel To consider highly valuable; to esteem |
| Example | Come, force the gates with crowbars, prise them apart! | a prize vegetable |
| Forms | prises, prising, prised | prizes |
| Pronunciation | /pɹaɪz/ | /ˈpɹaɪ̯z/ /ˈpɹɑ̟ɪ̯z/ /ˈpɹɒ̈ɪ̯z/ |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words | 39 times per million words |
Sources: prise and prize in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of prise and prize
prise
- 1
To force (open) with a lever; to pry
Come, force the gates with crowbars, prise them apart!
- 2
To extract something that is difficult to obtain
prise information out of someone
prize
- 1
That which is taken from another; something captured; a thing seized by force, stratagem, or superior power
- 2
To consider highly valuable; to esteem
- 3
Having won a prize; award-winning
a prize vegetable
- 4
Anything captured by a belligerent using the rights of war; especially, property captured at sea in virtue of the rights of war, as a vessel
- 5
To move with a lever; to force up or open; to prise or pry
- 6
First-rate; exceptional
He was a prize fool
- 7
An honour or reward striven for in a competitive contest; anything offered to be competed for, or as an inducement to, or reward of, effort
- 8
That which may be won by chance, as in a lottery
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, prise or prize?
prise appears about once in every 4 million words; prize 39 times per million words.
prise about once in every 4 million wordsprize 39 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).