“Penalize” or “Penalise”

Language

Penalize and penalise are both English terms.

Usage

Penalize is predominantly used in 🇺🇸 American (US) English (en-US) while penalise is predominantly used in 🇬🇧 British English (used in UK/AU/NZ) (en-GB).

In terms of actual appearance and usage, here's a breakdown by country, with usage level out of 100 (if available) 👇:

Term	US	UK	India	Philippines	Canada	Australia	Liberia	Ireland	New Zealand	Jamaica	Trinidad & Tobago	Guyana
penalize	97	21	52	100	79	22	0	0	0	0	0	0
penalise	3	79	48	0	21	78	0	100	100	0	0	0

• In the United States, there is a preference for "penalize" over "penalise" (97 to 3).
• In the United Kingdom, there is a 79 to 21 preference for "penalise" over "penalize".
• In India, there is a preference for "penalize" over "penalise" (52 to 48).
• In the Philippines, there is a preference for "penalize" over "penalise" (100 to 0).
• In Canada, there is a preference for "penalize" over "penalise" (79 to 21).
• In Australia, there is a 78 to 22 preference for "penalise" over "penalize".
• In Liberia, there is not enough data to determine a preference between "penalize" and "penalise".
• In Ireland, there is a 100 to 0 preference for "penalise" over "penalize".
• In New Zealand, there is a 100 to 0 preference for "penalise" over "penalize".
• In Jamaica, there is not enough data to determine a preference between "penalize" and "penalise".
• In Trinidad & Tobago, there is not enough data to determine a preference between "penalize" and "penalise".
• In Guyana, there is not enough data to determine a preference between "penalize" and "penalise".

Examples

Below, we provide some examples of when to use penalize or penalise with sample sentences.

Trends

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