Practice vs practise is a spelling pair that trips up British, Australian, and Canadian writers far more often than American ones. The reason is simple: American English uses practice for everything, while other varieties of English split the two forms by grammatical role. Get the split wrong and an otherwise polished sentence looks careless.
The core rule
In British, Australian, and Canadian English, the distinction works like this:
- Practice is the noun. It names a thing: a doctor's practice, a piano practice, a practice run.
- Practise is the verb. It describes an action: to practise medicine, to practise every morning, she practised for years.
In American English, practice covers both roles. American writers spell it the same way whether they're using it as a noun or a verb. That's not wrong in American English; it's simply how that variety settled. The confusion usually hits writers who learned one system and then encounter the other.
A quick memory trick
The most reliable trick borrows from a parallel pair: advice (noun) and advise (verb). Both words end in different letters, and so do practice and practise. If you can swap your word with advice and the sentence still makes sense, you want the -ce spelling. If you'd swap it with advise, you want the -se spelling.
Try it: "She gave me good advice" works as a noun test. "She advised me well" works as a verb test. Apply the same test to your sentence with practice/practise and you'll land on the right form every time.
Examples in sentences
Seeing the words in context cements the rule faster than any explanation.
Practice as a noun (British/Australian/Canadian):
"The medical practice closed early on Fridays."
"Repetition is the only path to genuine practice."
"The team's practice session ran for two hours."
Practise as a verb (British/Australian/Canadian):
"She needed to practise her lines before the show."
"He practised law in Edinburgh for thirty years."
"You have to practise if you want to improve."
American English (practice for both):
"She needed to practice her lines before the show."
"He still runs a practice in downtown Boston."
Notice the American sentences look identical in structure to the British ones. Only the spelling changes.
Why the confusion runs so deep
Part of the problem is that practice and practise sound completely identical when spoken aloud. There's no pronunciation clue to guide you. Writers who learned American English instinctively reach for practice in every situation. Writers trained on British conventions sometimes over-correct and write practise even in noun positions.
The other trap is compound phrases. "Best practice" is a noun phrase, so it always takes the -ce spelling even in British English. "Best practices" is simply the plural of that noun. You'd never write "best practise" in any variety of English.
This kind of spelling confusion is closely related to the challenges explored in our guide to practicable vs practical, two words that share the same Latin root and cause their own distinct problems in formal writing.
What about "practice" as a modifier?
When practice modifies another noun, it acts as an adjective and keeps the noun spelling in all dialects. A "practice match," a "practice exam," a "practice run." These are noun compounds, not verb forms. Even British writers don't write "practise match."
The verb form only appears when the word is doing verbal work in the sentence: something a person does, is doing, has done, or will do. If you can insert a word like "regularly" or "daily" after your word and it reads naturally, it's a verb and you want practise (outside American English).
Handling the American vs British divide in practice
If you're writing for a global audience without a specific style guide, the safest move is to pick one convention and hold it throughout. Don't mix American practice with British spellings elsewhere in the same document. Consistency signals care; inconsistency signals that the writer wasn't sure of the rule.
This kind of noun-versus-verb spelling split appears in other common pairs too. Our breakdown of affect vs effect covers a similar challenge: two forms of the same root word that swap roles depending on how you're using them in a sentence.
One more thing worth knowing: spell-checkers don't reliably catch this error. Both spellings are real English words. A checker set to British English may flag American-style practice used as a verb, but most generic tools pass both forms silently. The only reliable check is knowing the rule yourself.
Quick reference
American English: Use practice as both noun and verb, always.
British, Australian, Canadian English: Use practice for nouns, practise for verbs.
Modifier position: Always practice (practice run, practice exam), in all dialects.
The rule takes thirty seconds to learn. After that, the advice/advise test handles any sentence you're unsure about.