“Defenseless” or “Defenceless”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 3 prefer “defenseless” and 5 prefer “defenceless”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	defenseless	defenceless	Preference
United States	82	18	“defenseless”
United Kingdom	31	69	“defenceless”
India	38	62	“defenceless”
Philippines	70	30	“defenseless”
Canada	61	39	“defenseless”
Australia	34	66	“defenceless”
Liberia	0	0	Not enough data
Ireland	22	78	“defenceless”
New Zealand	0	100	“defenceless”
Jamaica	0	0	Not enough data
Trinidad & Tobago	0	0	Not enough data
Guyana	0	0	Not enough data

Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“defenseless”

…and changed their name to "Defenseless Mennonite" in 1908.
…"butchered" the analysis of two defenseless receiver plays during the telecast…
…pistols which left the user defenseless once they had been fired.
…stabbing him as he lay defenseless on the lower steps of…
…punishing blows to a now defenseless Morrison before finally ending the
As Saxony was close to defenseless, the Swedes could easily push…
…battle of wits, he's the defenseless one.
…Troy as a battle against defenseless women and children.
…such a degraded and practically defenseless condition offers so many temptations…
…by making the player mostly defenseless, thus making it vital to…

“defenceless”

…the command ship in a defenceless state, and destroying it before…
…Gestapo...being so completely helpless, so defenceless against those horrible people is…
He had bombarded defenceless cities and 'killed' civilians, and…
…complaining that this leaves them defenceless against industrial espionage from the…
…the audience, and the poor defenceless cow."
…the right to defend the defenceless, that is, churches, widows and…
…your atrocities at Bona on defenceless Christians, and your unbecoming disregard…
…demand better treatment of the defenceless native divers, and Diego, as…
…of no fewer than three defenceless aboriginal women and a child…
…State of Affairs Wherein the Defenceless State of Great Britain is…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

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