Prise - prize

Prise and prize form one of the sets of homophones listed by the then Poet Laureate Robert Bridges.
(For more, see Bridges homophones). AWE has a category listing our articles on each of these.

They are two homophones - both pronounced IPA: /praɪz/ - that have been confused in spelling by some writers.

To prise only exists as a verb in modern English. It means to exert leverage on something; to force something out or away. A builder might prise one stone out of a wall; a rugby player might prise the ball out of his opponent's grasp. A criminal might prise a cash machine away from a wall. Figuratively, a policeman might then prise a confession out of a suspect.

Note on spelling: In British English, the spelling prise "is compulsory" (Burchfield's Fowler, s.v. -ise). The etymology shows why: it comes from French pris[e], the past participle of prendre, '[that which is] taken, caught, seized or grasped', and first entered English as a noun, which is rarely used in present-day English, before developing its verbal use. In American English, both prise and prize are found, but "the dominant form is pry" (ibid. s.v. prise), with its standard 3rd person singular in the present tense of pries - which of course sounds like 'prise' and 'prize'.

In its root meaning, prize (with a '-z-') is a noun meaning a 'special reward'. The student at the top of a class may receive a prize for good work; the Nobel Prize is a mark of very high esteem (and worth a lot of money). So prize developed a meaning as a verb - 'to value very highly'. "I prize this book which my father loved"; "the child prized her bicycle above everything else."

There is also the word pries, with an infinitely small, but real, difference in pronunciation. Fortunately it is quite rare. It is the third person singular form of the verb 'to pry', which in British English only means 'to examine closely [usually with a pejorative sense of sneaking a look into something that is not one's own business]'. For its American use, see above.