prisevsprizeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

“prise” is a noun and “prize” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#758
“prise” frequency rank
#41,972
“prize” frequency rank
42730
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prise prize
Definition Faculté de prendre, de saisir. Forcer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set prise and prize apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
prise
5 ch
prize

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prise is \pʁiz\ while prize is \praɪz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “prise” becomes z in “prize”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42730, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prise is recorded at frequency rank #758, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁiz\. prize is at rank #41,972, tagged as averb, pronounced \praɪz\.

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 42730, this pair ranks #223,375 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prise vs prize

Shared letters: eipr. Private to "prise": s. Private to "prize": z.

"prise" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "prize" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prisepirse · pprise · pries · prisse · prrise · prsie · rpise
  • prizepirze · pprize · prizze · prrize · przie · rpize

Frequency comparison

prise#758
prize#41,972

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prise" and "prize" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prise" is a noun and "prize" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "prise" or "prize"?
"prise" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #758 in our French list, against #41,972 for "prize". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering prise vs prize

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “prise”; for a verb, it's “prize”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “prise” 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