Which to use
“vise” is a noun and “visit” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,761
- “vise” frequency rank
- #980
- “visit” frequency rank
- 38741
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vise | visit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An instrument consisting of two jaws, closing by a screw, lever, cam, or the like, for holding work, as in filing. | To habitually go to (someone in distress, sickness etc.) to comfort them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.) |
Where the eye mixes vise and visit
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. vise runs 4 letters (CVCV) against visit's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between vise and visit
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vise is /vaɪs/ while visit is /ˈvɪzɪt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38741, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vise is recorded at frequency rank #37,761, classified as anoun, pronounced /vaɪs/. visit is at rank #980, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈvɪzɪt/.
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 38741, this pair ranks #283,185 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vise vs visit
Shared letters: isv. Private to "vise": e. Private to "visit": t.
"vise" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "visit" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vise" for "visit" ever safe?
Which is more common, "vise" or "visit"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "vise" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "visit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #283,185 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vise" and "visit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vise vs VIX". 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 #283,185 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.