Which to use
“recognise” and “recognize” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,080
- “recognise” frequency rank
- #2,908
- “recognize” frequency rank
- 10988
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recognise | recognize |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of recognize. | To match (something or someone which one currently perceives) to a memory of some previous encounter with the same person or thing. |
Where the eye mixes recognise and recognize
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between recognise and recognize
A purely visual mix-up. recognise (/ˈɹɛkənaɪz/) and recognize (/ˈɹɛk.əɡ.naɪz/) 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 - s in “recognise” becomes z in “recognize”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10988, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recognise is recorded at frequency rank #8,080, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɹɛkənaɪz/. recognize is at rank #2,908, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɹɛk.əɡ.naɪz/.
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 10988, this pair ranks #489,462 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of recognise vs recognize
Shared letters: ceginor. Private to "recognise": s. Private to "recognize": z.
"recognise" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV · "recognize" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "recognise" and "recognize" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "recognise" or "recognize" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "recognise" and "recognize" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "recognise" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recognize" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #489,462 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recognise" and "recognize" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recognise vs recognized". 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 #489,462 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.