“Sterilization” or “Sterilisation”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 11 prefer “sterilization” and 0 prefer “sterilisation”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	sterilization	sterilisation	Preference
United States	98	2	“sterilization”
United Kingdom	50	50	No clear preference
India	90	10	“sterilization”
Philippines	98	2	“sterilization”
Canada	76	24	“sterilization”
Australia	51	49	“sterilization”
Liberia	100	0	“sterilization”
Ireland	58	42	“sterilization”
New Zealand	55	45	“sterilization”
Jamaica	100	0	“sterilization”
Trinidad & Tobago	100	0	“sterilization”
Guyana	100	0	“sterilization”

Usage

Examples in context

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

“sterilization”

Thus for human health, complete sterilization of water is not required.
Some states still have forced sterilization laws in effect, such as…
The rate of sterilization increased 25 percent each year.
In Colombia during the 1980s, sterilization was the second most popular…
An autoclave is a medical sterilization device used to sterilize stainless
Sterilization (microbiology)
…both forced abortion and forced sterilization can be charged with intentional…
…in Nazi Germany allowing compulsory sterilization of citizens suffering from a…
…order to coerce them into sterilization.
…a "Western Plot" of mass sterilization or population reduction, perhaps a…

“sterilisation”

…report entitled Involuntary or coerced sterilisation of intersex people in Australia.
…which had allegedly involved forcible sterilisation of young men by government
…sociological aspects), birth control, abortion, sterilisation, venereal diseases, and all aspects…
…studio; and ultra-violet (UV-C) water sterilisation.
…other reliable) light to enable sterilisation at night.
…she underwent a forced surgical sterilisation in the Dresden-Friedrichstadt women's hospital…
…a bill that included forced sterilisation.
…in some situations involved forced sterilisation.
When the issue of compulsory sterilisation was brought up at the…
…the Dutch Government over previous sterilisation requirements for transgender individuals.

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