Rice or rise?
rice is a noun meaning “Cereal plants, Oryza sativa of the grass family whose seeds are used as food”; rise is a verb meaning “To move upwards”. Use rice as a noun and rise as a verb (rise is also a noun: “The process of or an action or instance of moving upwards…”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) rise is about 1.8 times as common as rice.
What is the difference between rice and rise?
| rice | rise | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | verb, noun, suffix |
| Meaning | Cereal plants, Oryza sativa of the grass family whose seeds are used as food A specific variety of this plant To squeeze through a ricer; to mash or make into rice-sized pieces (especially potatoes) | To move upwards To grow upward; to attain a certain height The process of or an action or instance of moving upwards or becoming greater |
| Example | This is my first rice! | We watched the balloon rise |
| Forms | rices | rises, rising, rose, risen |
| Pronunciation | /ɹaɪs/ | /ɹaɪz/ /ɹaɪs/ |
| In writing | 35 times per million words | 65 times per million words |
Sources: rice and rise 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 rice and rise
rice
- 1
Cereal plants, Oryza sativa of the grass family whose seeds are used as food
- 2
To squeeze through a ricer; to mash or make into rice-sized pieces (especially potatoes)
- 3
IrelandScotlandA twig or stick
- 4
Acronym of rest, ice, compression, elevation (“a treatment method for soft-tissue injuries”)
- 5
A specific variety of this plant
- 6
To harvest wild rice (Zizania spp.)
- 7
Acronym of rest, immobilization, cold, elevation (“a treatment method for soft-tissue injuries”)
- 8
The seeds of this plant used as food
rise
- 1
To move upwards
We watched the balloon rise
- 2
The process of or an action or instance of moving upwards or becoming greater
The rise of the tide
- 3
Alternative form of rice (“twig”)
- 4
Used to form noun from a noun corresponding to astronomical body, to indicate the rise of the astronomical body appears in the horizon
sun + -rise → sunrise
- 5
To grow upward; to attain a certain height
This elm tree rises to a height of seventy feet
- 6
The process of or an action or instance of coming to prominence
The rise of the working class
- 7
To slope upward
The path rises as you approach the foot of the hill
- 8
AustraliaCanadaUKAn increase in a quantity, price, etc
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, rice or rise?
rice appears 35 times per million words; rise 65 times per million words.
rice 35 times per million wordsrise 65 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).