Which to use
“vise” and “voice” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,761
- “vise” frequency rank
- #918
- “voice” frequency rank
- 38679
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vise | voice |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An instrument consisting of two jaws, closing by a screw, lever, cam, or the like, for holding work, as in filing. | Sound uttered by the mouth, especially by human beings in speech or song; sound thus uttered considered as possessing some special quality or character. |
Where the eye mixes vise and voice
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. vise runs 4 letters (CVCV) against voice's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses vise with voice
A purely visual mix-up. vise (/vaɪs/) and voice (/vɔɪs/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38679, 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/. voice is at rank #918, tagged as anoun, pronounced /vɔɪs/.
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 38679, this pair ranks #283,793 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vise vs voice
Shared letters: eiv. Private to "vise": s. Private to "voice": co.
"vise" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "voice" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "vise" and "voice" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "vise" or "voice"?
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 "voice" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #283,793 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vise" and "voice" 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 #283,793 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.