Word Confusion: Pries vs Prise vs Prize

Posted December 10, 2018 by kddidit in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
18 Dec 2022

This word confusion started off as prise versus prys, which was really confusing since there is no plural for pry. And who knew that prise and prize could mean the same thing?

All three words (yep, they’re also heterographs) do share one definition in that they lever something out of or from something with force.

Prise is the most limited, as it uses a physical force.

Prize is both physical as well as having an emotional impact. In addition it can be a reward.

As for pries, it can also refer to people sneaking about and pushing their way into your private business . . . and if that isn’t a type of force, I’ll eat my hat.

Of course, prise and pries do have their own shared confusion . . . those transposed es and ss. I can’t tell you how many times I had to go back and correct them in this post!

And you may want to check out the difference between “Pride versus Prize“.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

If you found this post on “Pries vs Prise vs Prize” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.

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Pries Prise Prize

Claw of hammer placed around a nail stuck in a piece of wood

Prising Up a Nail by BlueBudgie is under the CC0 license, via Pixabay.


An old couple prying into a darkened shop window

There Must Be Something Good in Here by Rob! is under the CC BY 2.0 lcense, via Flickr.

“Who is it that pries in my windows?” she cackled.


Cartoon of a girl holding up a prize cup that's bigger than she is

Big Prize Color by Alberto G is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr.

She literally won the “big” prize.

Part of Grammar:
Morpheme: pry


Noun;
Verb, intransitive & transitive

Plural for the noun: pry
Gerund: prying

Third person present verb: pries
Past tense or past participle: pried
Present participle: prying

Verb, transitive

Third person present verb: prises
Past tense or past participle: prised
Present participle: prising

Variant spelling: prize

Adjective 1; Noun 1, 2, and 3; Verb, transitive 3, 4

Plural for the noun: prizes
Gerund: prizing

Third person present verb: prizes
Past tense or past participle: prized
Present participle: prizing

Variant spelling: prise

Noun:
A tool, as a crowbar, for raising, moving, or opening something by leverage

The leverage exerted

Verb:
[Often followed by into] To make an impertinent or uninvited inquiry about a private matter, topic, etc.

To force open by levering

[US and Canadian] To extract or obtain with difficulty

Verb, intransitive:
To look or inquire closely, curiously, or impertinently

Enquire too inquisitively into a person’s private affairs

Verb, transitive:
To raise, move, or force something open or away from something

Lever something open/off/away, etc.

To obtain with effort or difficulty

Use force in order to move, move apart, or open something

[prise something out of/from] Obtain something from (someone) with effort or difficulty

Adjective:
[Attrib., especially of something entered in a competition] Having been or likely to be awarded a reward 1

  • Denoting something for which something of great value is awarded
  • Excellent of its kind
  • Outstanding
  • Complete
  • Utter

Noun:
A thing given as a reward to the winner of a competition or race or in recognition of another outstanding achievement 1

  • A thing, especially an amount of money or a valuable object, that can be won in a lottery or other game of chance
  • Something of great value that is worth struggling to achieve
  • [Chiefly historical] An enemy ship captured during the course of naval warfare 2

Leverage 3

[Chiefly Southern US] Something used as a lever or for prying

Verb, transitive:
Use force in order to move, move apart, or open something 3

Value extremely highly 4

Examples:
Noun:
Andy, do you have that pry bar handy?

I need a pry bar to get that nail up.

Pete has a variety of pry bars.

Verb:
They had to pry the news out of him.

Verb, intransitive:
She pries into my personal life.

She was always prying into the affairs of others.

The press pries and pokes at anyone who might attract the readers’ attention.

Verb, transitive:
He pries his left leg free.

He walks around the house, pries his window open, and crawls in.

She was crazy about water, ultimately, you couldn’t get her away from the ocean unless you pried and pulled her, taking her kicking and screaming!

They reached the window and pried it open together.

Paul always pries the lid off with a spoon.

Ken pries a confession out of the suspect.

Paula is prising open the door and cursing up a blue streak.

He prised his left leg free.

I tried to prise Joe’s fingers away from the stick.

Using a screwdriver, he prised open the window.

To clean the scallops, prise the shells open with a knife, scraping and loosening from the flat shell.

I tried to prise it apart with a ruler, then I tried using a pair of scissors to try and lever the infernal plastic spindle apart.

The lid of the freezer gave a tiny groan as we prised it open.

Jamie got the loan, though he had to prise it out of the banker.

So I said, “What if I prise a contract out of him for the winter as well, and we all move out there?”

Adjective:
Aye, that Melvin is a prize bull.

Them’re some prize onions, Velma.

It was a prize crossword.

Brown’s results are a prize example of how well organic farming can function.

You must think I’m a prize idiot.

Miriam is quite proud of her prize roses.

Noun:
The nation’s most prestigious prize for contemporary art.

The grand prize in the drawing.

When do we get the prize money?

Gimme that prize bar, Jimmy Joe.

The prize will be victory in the general election.

Nelson has taken a number of prizes.

Verb, transitive:
The berries were prized for their healing properties.

The bicycle was her most prized possession.

He prized open the antique chest.

Derivatives:
Noun: prier Noun: prising

Adjective: prize-winning
Noun: prizefight, prizefighter, prizefighting, prizewinner
History of the Word:
Middle English, in the sense peer inquisitively is of unknown origin. Late 16th century from dialect prise meaning lever, from the Old French prise maening grasp, taking hold.
  1. Middle English the noun is a variant of price; the verb (originally in the sense estimate the value of) is from the Old French pris-, stem of preisier meaning to praise, appraise
  2. Late Middle English from the Old French prise meaning taking, booty, from prendre meaning take.
  3. Late 16th century from dialect prise meaning lever, from the Old French prise maening grasp, taking hold.
  4. From the Old French preisier meaning to praise.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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Resources for Pries vs Prise vs Prize

Apple Dictionary.com

Dictionary.com: prize

The Free Dictionary: prize, pry

MacMillan Dictionary: pry

Oxford Living Dictionaries: prise, pry

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Pinterest Photo Credits:

Prying Halite Crystals Loose by Alisha Vargas was resized and is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr. The resized Gold Bars, <https://pxhere.com/en/photo/971712>, had its background removed and a shadow added; it is under the CC0 license, via pxhere. The surroundings for the figure in Peek, <https://visualhunt.com/f2/photo/4547277363/c3c3b93b21/>, were removed; the image is by raulsantosdelacamara and is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via VisualHunt.

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