“Polarizing” or “Polarising”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 6 prefer “polarizing” and 3 prefer “polarising”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	polarizing	polarising	Preference
United States	98	2	“polarizing”
United Kingdom	40	60	“polarising”
India	52	48	“polarizing”
Philippines	96	4	“polarizing”
Canada	95	5	“polarizing”
Australia	36	64	“polarising”
Liberia	0	0	Not enough data
Ireland	50	50	No clear preference
New Zealand	45	55	“polarising”
Jamaica	82	18	“polarizing”
Trinidad & Tobago	100	0	“polarizing”
Guyana	0	0	Not enough data

Usage

Examples in context

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

“polarizing”

…Electric Mud is Waters' "most polarizing record", according to Waters biographer…
The H2 was polarizing when introduced and has since…
Despite the increasingly polarizing slavery debate, Taylor and Cass…
…legislative practices, Kennedy was a polarizing symbol of American liberalism for…
I think it was very polarizing to our fans.
…marriage in France became very polarizing to the French people, Ciappa…
The rivalry is sometimes so polarizing that it is often a…
Polarizing filters use these effects to…
…first passes through a linear polarizing sheet.
…the display is another linear polarizing sheet, usually oriented at 90…

“polarising”

…Catholic priests were killed, further polarising revolutionaries and the Church.
…Bookshop was said to be polarising members with extreme views.
…the Conservatives, his use of polarising anti-Muslim rhetoric, and his hasty
…whose salts with large, weakly polarising cations such as Cs+ may…
…any other of Austen's works, polarising supporters and critics.
A prolific and polarising writer on social issues, she…
…petrology it has two research polarising microscopes supported by a digital…
Bob Hawke, a less polarising Labor leader than Whitlam, defeated…
…Nicol prism, or more recently polarising films), fracture characteristics of the…
…to the rally has received polarising coverage in Malaysia's print and…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

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