“Paralyzing” or “Paralysing”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 4 prefer “paralyzing” and 4 prefer “paralysing”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	paralyzing	paralysing	Preference
United States	95	5	“paralyzing”
United Kingdom	41	59	“paralysing”
India	60	40	“paralyzing”
Philippines	100	0	“paralyzing”
Canada	87	13	“paralyzing”
Australia	44	56	“paralysing”
Liberia	0	0	Not enough data
Ireland	42	58	“paralysing”
New Zealand	0	100	“paralysing”
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.

“paralyzing”

…mind was at times most paralyzing to the dispatch of business.
…in the cockroach's thorax, temporarily paralyzing the victim for a few…
…well as main city streets, paralyzing life in the capital.
…amounts of radiation capable of paralyzing Superboy.
…Greg, whom he hated), temporarily paralyzing her.
…the unmitigated defeatism which was paralyzing Washington."
…resigned in 1983 after a paralyzing stroke.)
…neck with his bare hands, paralyzing him from the neck down.
…venom primarily contains poneratoxin, a paralyzing neurotoxic peptide.
…was almost ended by a paralyzing 1982 car accident.

“paralysing”

…those horrible people is so paralysing that I suddenly understood how…
…the immune system, often by paralysing the bone marrow and leading…
…easily killed laboratory rats by paralysing their nervous system.
…host (egg or pupa), sometimes paralysing their prey by injecting it…
…high speed and dealing a paralysing venomous bite.
…for both defence and for paralysing prey.
…Five), who had suffered a paralysing fall at his home in
…quercina and Fomitopsis pinicola, use paralysing toxins to destroy and colonize…
Paralysing Glen with its powered scales,…
…the Weimar period, and a paralysing factionalism in the legislature, meant…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

Too much to remember?

Looking for a tool that handles this for you wherever you write?

Install Sapling Try the grammar checker