Difference between Advice and Advise | Advice vs. Advise

The advice and advise are very confusing words because they sound alike and spelled similarly except one letter. Writers become confuse when they have to use either one of the words in a sentence. Some people think that they are identical and interchangeable, but these are not interchangeable. Both words are quite different in their meanings, spelling and pronunciation. Both words have two syllables. First syllable is similar in both words, but second syllable has a different ending sound because of a change of one letter.

• Advice is spelled with letter C that makes /s/ sound in a second syllable.
• Advise is spelled with letter S that makes /z/ sound in a second syllable.

 Both words are not interchangeable because they have quite different meaning and also belong to parts of speech.

• The word ‘advice’ is a noun and represents an idea.
• The word ‘advise’ is a verb and represents an action.

Pronunciation of advice: ədˈvʌɪs

Pronunciation of advise: ədˈvʌɪz

Synonym of advice: guidance, instruction, information, suggestion, tip. 

Synonym of advise: recommend, direct, encourage, caution, preach, instruct.

What does advice mean?

Advice is a noun, which means an opinion, a suggestion, or a recommendation.

We use it as a noun in a sentence. It is an opinion or suggestion that someone offers you about what you should do in a particular situation. Either we give advice to someone or we receive from another person; it remains a noun.

Explanation with an example

• “John’s advice for you is to keep a smile on face to live happily.”

In the above sentence, we are talking about an opinion of John. It is an idea of John to live a happy life by keeping a smile. An idea is a noun, thus advice is also a noun.

What does advise mean?

Advice is a verb. It is an opinion, a suggestion, or a recommendation offered as a guide to act upon. The advise is an act of giving someone advice.

We use it as a verb in a sentence. It is an opinion offered by someone to act upon or perform an action accordingly.

Explanation with an example

• “John advised him to quit smoking.”  

In the above sentence, John advised him – means he performed an action. John asked him to act on his advice of quitting smoking. Performing any action is the quality of a verb, thus advise is also a verb.

How to know that you are using advice and advise correctly?

When you are confused and want to clear your confusion that you are using the correct word; here is a trick. Just substitute advice with another noun in the sentence and substitute advise with another verb in the sentence. You will come to know that you are using the correct word or the wrong word. Look at the examples below.

Substitute of advice to check correct use of advice:

• My advice for you is to run fast to lose weight.
• My recommendation for you is to run fast to lose weight.

Substitute of advise to check correct use of advise:

• He advised me very confidently.
• He suggested me very confidently.

Are advice and advise homophones?

Both words, advice and advise, have equal letters, but one letter is different in both words that makes a difference in their pronunciation. These words are not homophones, but we call them near-homophones, especially for non-natives.

Both words, advice and advise, have two syllables ad-vice and ad-vise, respectively. First syllable of both words is the same in pronunciation but the second syllable is different. The second syllable of advice is -vice and the second syllable of advise is -vise.

Advice ends with /s/ sound while advise ends with /z/ sound, so these are not homophones.

Advise vs. Advice | Different Forms

The word advise (being a verb) has several forms, like advises in present tense, advised in past tense, and advising in present participle.

• John will advise you on this subject.
• Erick advises on smoking.
• Luca advised me to stop smoking.
• Rosy is advising us to stop smoking.

On the other hand, advice is a noun and only occurs in the plain form advice. A noun has a plural form, but the word advice is a mass noun or uncountable noun (similar to water and sand) and does not have a plural form.

• Incorrect: Our blog gives good advices for the learners.
• Correct: Our blog gives good advice for the learners.

Note: You cannot use article ‘a’ or ‘an’ with ‘advice’. You cannot say an advice because we do not use a definite article with uncountable or mass nouns.

• Incorrect: Can you give me an advice on which car to buy?
• Correct: Can you give me advice on which car to buy?

How to remember advice vs. advise?

The word advice is noun and ends with letters ice. Ice is also a noun. So you can remember that the word that ends with ice is noun and the word advise has no noun in its letters, but you can see word is in second syllable ad-vise. Therefore, you can remember that is as a verb thus advise a verb.

Advise as a participle

You can use word advise as a participle to describe a noun. Look at the sentence below:

The advising professor recommended only 20 students will sit in a language class.

Using advice and advise in sentences

Hopefully, you have understood the difference between advice and advise. Now we will practice these words in different sentences.

Use of advice in sentence

The word advice is a noun and all the sentences below use it as a noun.

• You have participated in this game; please give me your advice.
• My mother gave me some advice on a successful life.
• Always get education carrier advice from an expert.
• Let me give you some advice, stay away from smoking and drinking.
• Can you give some advice to the students about drawing a sketch of a cat?

Use of advise in sentence

The word advise is a verb and all the sentences below use it as a verb.

• She needs you to advise her on her matter.
• Please advise her on the embroidery business.
• I advise you to quit smoking.
• Will you advise him to pass the exam?
• I always advise my students to take classes regularly.

Recap to key differences between advice and advise

• The advice means “an opinion or recommendation” on the other hand, advise means “to give counsel, offer an opinion or suggestion.”
• Advice is a noun; in contrast, advise is a verb.
• The pronunciation of advice is /ədˈvaɪs/ whereas advise is pronounced as /ədˈvaɪz/.
• Advise has multiple forms like advises, advised, advising whereas advice has no other forms.