Recognise or recognize?
In American English write recognize; in British and Commonwealth English, recognise. recognise is a verb meaning “Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of recognize”; recognize is a verb meaning “To match (something or someone which one currently perceives) to a memory of…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) recognize is about 4.0 times as common as recognise.
What is the difference between recognise and recognize?
| recognise | recognize | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb | verb |
| Meaning | BritishUSTo match (something or someone which one currently perceives) to a memory of some previous encounter with the same person or thing BritishUSTo acknowledge the existence or legality of; to treat as valid or worthy of consideration BritishUKUSto cognize again | |
| Example | none recorded | I recognized his face immediately, although his voice was different |
| Forms | recognises, recognising, recognised | recognizes, recognizing, recognized |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɹɛkənaɪz/ /ˈɹɛkəɡnaɪz/ /ˈɹekənɑɪz/ | /ˈɹɛk.əɡ.naɪz/ /ˈɹɛk.ɪɡ.naɪz/ /ˈɹɛk.ən.aɪz/ |
| Region | UK | UK, US |
| In writing | 8.3 times per million words | 33 times per million words |
Sources: recognise and recognize 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 recognise and recognize
recognize
- 1
BritishUSTo match (something or someone which one currently perceives) to a memory of some previous encounter with the same person or thing
I recognized his face immediately, although his voice was different
- 2
BritishUKUSto cognize again
- 3
BritishUSTo acknowledge the existence or legality of; to treat as valid or worthy of consideration
The US and a number of EU countries are expected to recognize Kosovo on Monday
- 4
BritishUSTo acknowledge or consider (as being a certain thing or having a certain quality or property)
Slavery is widely recognized as immoral
- 5
BritishUSTo realize or discover the nature of something; apprehend quality in
- 6
BritishUSTo show formal appreciation of, as with an award, commendation etc
His services were recognized in a testimonial
- 7
BritishUSTo have the property to bind to specific antigens
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, recognise or recognize?
recognise appears 8.3 times per million words; recognize 33 times per million words.
recognise 8.3 times per million wordsrecognize 33 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search recognise vs recognize?
“recognise vs recognize” is searched about 2,900 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“recognize vs recognise”, “recognise or recognize”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.