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PlainSpell

vice

/vaɪs/noun, verb, adjective, preposition

vice is spelled V-I-C-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 51 times per million words in written English, the 1,993rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “vice vs vise” about 1,300 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, vice means “Bad or immoral behaviour. (Especially often, a habit that harms oneself or others)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of vice is vices.

How many letters and syllables are in vice?

Letters4: V-I-C-E
Syllables1
In writing51 times per million words; the 1,993rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is vice?

Vice appears 51 times per million words in written English, the 1,993rd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce vice?

  • US /vaɪs/

Vice has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-vice.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-vice-.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with vice

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

vice vs vise1,300 G

Sounds like: vise (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: vise.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with vice?

9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as vice from its last stressed vowel (/aɪs/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of vice

  • vices plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • vicing participle, present
  • viced participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does vice mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    Bad or immoral behaviour. (Especially often, a habit that harms oneself or others)

    Pride is a vice, not a virtue.

  2. 2

    Any of various crimes related (depending on jurisdiction) to weapons, prostitution, pornography, gambling, alcohol, tobacco, or drugs.

  3. 3

    slangClipping of vice squad.

  4. 4

    A defect in the temper or behaviour of a horse, such as to make the animal dangerous, to injure its health, or to diminish its usefulness.

  5. 5

    CommonwealthAlternative spelling of vise (“mechanical screw apparatus used for clamping”).

  6. 6

    A tool for drawing lead into cames, or flat grooved rods, for casements.

  7. 7

    A winding or spiral staircase.

  8. 8

    obsoleteA grip or grasp.

  9. 9

    One who acts in place of a superior.

    c. 1850s-1870s, Edward Minister and Son, The Gazette of Fashion and Cutting-Room Companion The health of the Vice was proposed in appropriate language; in replying, Mr. Marriott thanked the company […]

adjective

  1. 1

    in place of; subordinate to; designating a person below another in rank

    vice president

verb

  1. 1

    Alternative spelling of vise (“to hold or squeeze with a vice”).

preposition

  1. 1

    datedInstead of; in place of; versus.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Vice in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchvice (bad habit), affaire de mœurs (crime related to prostitution, pornography…), vice- (deputy)
GermanLaster, Lasterhaftigkeit, Untugend (bad habit), Sittenvergehen, Sittlichkeitsdelikt, Sittlichkeitsverbrechen (crime related to prostitution, pornography…)
Portuguesevício, mania (bad habit), vice- (deputy)
Spanishvicio, resabio (bad habit), vice- (deputy)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does vice come from?

From Middle English vice, from Old French vice, from Latin vitium (“fault or blemish”). Displaced native Old English unþēaw.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after vice