visevsvisitWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: vise is a noun, visit is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set vise and visit apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
vise
5 ch
visit

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

  • visevisse · vsie · vvise
  • visitivsit · viist · visitt · vissit · visti · vsiit · vvisit

Frequency comparison

vise#37,761
visit#980

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vise" and "visit" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vise" is a noun and "visit" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vise" or "visit"?
"visit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #980 in our English list, against #37,761 for "vise". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering vise vs visit

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “vise”; for a verb, it's “visit”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “vise” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list