answer: "vise" vs. "vice"

[moon-raven2.livejournal.com]

campylobacter would like to know the difference between vice and vise.



Ah, once again we visit our good friend the homophone! For those of you who don't recall, that's when you have two words that sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things. Let’s start out by defining the word, and then I'll give an example of how to use it.

Vice noun
an immoral or evil habit or practice; a fault, defect or shortcoming

Ex:
Robert Baratheon was a man of many vices, but wine and women certainly topped the list.

Vise noun
any of various devices, usually having two jaws that may be brought together or separated by means of a screw, lever, or the like, used to hold an object firmly while work is being done on it

Ex:
The direwolf’s jaws closed around Joffrey’s arm in a vise-like grip as she bit down.

As you can tell, even though these two words do sound the same, the meanings are so different that once you master the spelling, you should have no difficulty telling them apart!

A good way to remember which is which? A life of vice is never nice.

Comments

[campylobacter.livejournal.com]

Yay! My least favorite misuse of "vice vs. vise" is often seen in porn:

"Her **** gripped his **** like a vice."

It always makes me imagine a strike-force squad of uniformed police bursting into the room and handling someone's junk without a warrant.

[china_shop]

In UK and NZ English, both are spelled "vice", for the record.

[haldoor.livejournal.com]

I was going to point this out, but you beat me to it! I'm sure plenty of Americans just think we're getting it wrong, but yeah, we're not for where we live. ;-)