Practice vs Practise: UK, US and Australian Rules

In British, Australian, Irish and New Zealand English, practice is the noun and practise is the verb: you go to football practice, but you practise your kicking. In American English, practice is used for both the noun and the verb, and practise is not used.

That means American writers need only one spelling, while British and Australian writers need a quick grammar check every time. This pair works exactly like licence/license and advice/advise, so if you learn the test once, you can apply it to all three.

Quick answer: UK and Australia: practice (noun), practise (verb). US: practice for both. "Practice makes perfect" uses the noun, so it takes a c everywhere.

On this page

1. The Rule at a Glance
2. How to Tell the Noun From the Verb
3. What the Word Means
4. Where the Distinction Came From
5. Phrases and Idioms
6. Examples in Context
7. US vs UK vs Australia
8. Mistakes to Watch For
9. The Tricky Case: "Practising" Used Like a Noun
10. Spellcheckers and Settings
11. Quick Editing Exercise
12. A memory trick
13. Practice quiz
14. How to Make It Stick

The Rule at a Glance

Notice that the adjective forms follow the verb. A British writer describes "a practising solicitor" and "a well-practised routine"; an American writes "a practicing attorney" and "a well-practiced routine."

How to Tell the Noun From the Verb

If you write British or Australian English, you need a reliable test. Here are three.

1. The "a" or "the" test

If you can put a, the, some, my or your in front of the word, it is a noun and takes a c.

• "I have a practice session tonight." (noun)
• "The practice of tipping varies by country." (noun)
• "She runs her own practice in Leeds." (noun)

2. The "to" test

If the word follows to as part of an infinitive, or follows a modal verb like will, should, must, it is a verb and takes an s.

• "I need to practise my lines." (verb)
• "You should practise every day." (verb)

3. The swap test

Replace the word with training or train. If training (a noun) fits, use practice. If train (a verb) fits, use practise.

• "Netball ___ is on Wednesday." → "Netball training is on Wednesday." → practice
• "I ___ the guitar every morning." → "I train the guitar…" (awkward but clearly a verb) → practise

The same swap works with advice/advise, which has the advantage of sounding different: you give advice (noun, ends in a hiss) and you advise someone (verb, ends in a buzz). If you can hear which one fits, use the matching letter for practice/practise. Our guide to advice vs advise explains that pattern in more depth.

What the Word Means

The word has several senses, which matter because some of them are always nouns.

Noun senses (always practice):

• repeated exercise to improve a skill: "Piano practice takes an hour."
• a session of training: "Footy practice was cancelled."
• the actual doing of something, as opposed to theory: "The idea works in theory but not in practice."
• a custom or habit: "It's common practice to tip 20% in New York."
• the business of a doctor, lawyer, dentist or similar professional: "She joined a veterinary practice in Toowoomba."
• the work of a profession: "the practice of medicine," "private practice"

Verb senses (practise in UK/Australia, practice in US):

• to do something repeatedly to get better: "He practises his serve."
• to work in a profession: "She practises law in Hobart."
• to follow a religion or custom actively: "They practise Buddhism."
• to carry out regularly: "practise good hygiene"

Pronunciation

Both spellings are pronounced PRAK-tiss. There is no difference in sound between noun and verb, which is why people find this pair harder than advice/advise.

Where the Distinction Came From

The word entered Middle English from Old French practiser and medieval Latin practicare, ultimately from Greek praktikos, "concerned with action," related to prattein, "to do." The same root gives us practical and pragmatic.

For several centuries, English writers used both spellings for both parts of speech. British usage gradually assigned -ice to nouns and -ise to verbs, modeled on pairs like advice/advise and device/devise, where the noun and verb actually sound different. American English, partly through Noah Webster's influence, kept a single spelling for both uses. The same thinking explains why Americans write license for both noun and verb; see licence vs license for that parallel.

Phrases and Idioms

Some fixed expressions confuse writers because it is not obvious whether the word is a noun or a verb. Here is the British/Australian spelling for each, with the reason.

The "modifier" rows are where many British writers slip. In "practice exam," "practice match" or "practice manager," the word is a noun acting like an adjective, so it keeps the c.

Examples in Context

Everyday life

1. My daughter has soccer practice every Tuesday after school in Columbus.
2. I practise the piano for twenty minutes before breakfast.
3. Are you coming to netball practice on Thursday, or are you still sick?
4. He's been practicing his parallel parking all week for his test in Phoenix.
5. Gran says she's out of practice with knitting, but her scarves are perfect.
6. We practised the speech in the car on the way to the wedding in Cardiff.
7. It's a bit of a family practice to open one present on Christmas Eve.

Workplace and email

8. Hi Jess, the practice manager will send the new rosters on Friday.
9. Our team practices the pitch every Monday before client meetings.
10. All staff are expected to practise good data security when working from home.
11. Following best practice, we back up the system every night.
12. The Melbourne office runs a practice drill for fire evacuation twice a year.
13. She practised as a solicitor in Edinburgh before moving into policy work.

Academic and professional

14. The study compared teaching practice in rural and urban schools in New South Wales.
15. Doctors practicing in rural Montana often cover very large areas.
16. The policy looks sound in theory, but its effects in practice have been mixed.
17. Students are encouraged to practise reflective writing throughout the course.
18. The report recommends changes to prescribing practices in general practice.

News-style

19. A Sydney dental practice has been fined for misleading advertising.
20. The Wallabies practised behind closed doors ahead of the Test against England.
21. The Ohio State team practiced indoors after heavy snow hit Columbus.
22. Practising nurses in the UK must renew their registration every three years.
23. Critics say the company's hiring practices discriminate against older applicants.

US vs UK vs Australia

United States

American English uses practice for every form: "I practice daily," "basketball practice," "a practicing physician." Major American dictionaries and style guides list practise only as the British verb. Most American readers would see practise as either British or a typo.

United Kingdom

British English uses practice for nouns and practise for verbs. Schools teach the distinction, newspapers and the BBC follow it, and British editors correct mix-ups. British doctors work in a "GP practice" (general practice), and lawyers are described as "practising" solicitors or barristers.

Australia

Australian English follows the British rule exactly. Australians go to footy, netball or cricket practice and practise their skills; doctors work in a "medical practice"; professionals hold a "practising certificate." Australian school curricula teach the noun/verb split.

Canada

Canada officially follows the British split but uses practice for both forms more often than Britain or Australia, reflecting American influence.

Mistakes to Watch For

❌ I need to practice my French before the trip, in a British school essay. ✅ I need to practise my French before the trip. (Verb in British English.)

❌ Training is at the club; football practise starts at six, in an Australian newsletter. ✅ Football practice starts at six. (Noun.)

❌ Practise makes perfect. ✅ Practice makes perfect. (Noun in every country.)

❌ She's a practicing lawyer in Bristol. ✅ She's a practising lawyer in Bristol. (Adjective from the British verb.)

❌ He practises at a medical practise in Darwin. ✅ He practises at a medical practice in Darwin.

❌ I practise piano every day, in an American email. ✅ I practice piano every day.

The Tricky Case: "Practising" Used Like a Noun

The noun tests above can mislead you with one form: the -ing word used as a gerund. In "Practising every day is hard," practising is the subject of the sentence, so it looks like a noun. You can even put my in front of it: "My practising annoys the neighbours." Does that make it practicing in British English?

No. A gerund is still built from the verb, so it keeps the verb's spelling. British and Australian writers use practising in every -ing form, whether it works as a verb ("She is practising"), an adjective ("a practising GP") or a noun ("Regular practising helps"). The c belongs only to the plain noun practice and its plural practices.

If you want to avoid the question in British writing, the plain noun usually reads better anyway: "Daily practice is hard" is smoother than "Daily practising is hard."

Spellcheckers and Settings

Many writers in the UK and Australia meet this problem because their software is set to American English. A US spellchecker will happily accept practice as a verb and may flag every correct practise as an error. Before you trust the red underline, check that the document language is set to English (United Kingdom) or English (Australia).

Even with the right setting, a spellchecker cannot always tell nouns from verbs, because both spellings are real words. A British checker sees nothing wrong with "I need to practice," since practice exists. Grammar tools catch some of these, but not all, so a final read for this pair is still worth the ten seconds.

Quick Editing Exercise

Here is a short note from a Brisbane netball club. Find the three errors (Australian spelling).

Hi team, practise is moved to Thursday this week. Coach wants us to practice our centre passes, so bring a ball. Anyone who isn't practicing at home will feel it on Saturday!

Answers:

1. practise is moved → practice is moved (noun, the session).
2. to practice our centre passes → to practise (verb after to).
3. isn't practicing → isn't practising (verb form, so s).

For an American version of the same note, all three would be practice, practice and practicing.

A memory trick

"Ice is a noun." Ice is a thing, and so is practice. Anything you can hold or name, such as a session, a business or a habit, ends in -ice. The verb is the one left over: practise.

A second trick that many British students learn: c comes before s in the alphabet, and nouns come before verbs in many simple sentences ("Practice is fun; I practise daily"). It is not a grammatical rule, but it helps you remember which letter belongs to which job.

Practice quiz

(Yes, the noun: practice quiz.)

1. (UK newspaper) The striker ______ penalties for an hour after training. (practiced / practised)
2. (Any audience) "______ makes perfect," said the coach. (Practice / Practise)
3. (US email) Please ______ your presentation before Thursday. (practice / practise)
4. (Australian clinic website) Our ______ is open six days a week. (practice / practise)
5. (UK legal directory) Ms Okafor is a ______ barrister in London. (practicing / practising)
6. (Australian school report) Liam should ______ his times tables at home. (practice / practise)

Answers

1. practised – Verb in British English, so s.
2. Practice – Noun (the subject of the sentence) in every country.
3. practice – American English uses c for the verb.
4. practice – A business is a noun, so c.
5. practising – Adjective from the British verb.
6. practise – Verb in Australian English, so s.

How to Make It Stick

American writers can stop worrying: practice is right every time. British and Australian writers should ask one quick question each time: is this a thing (noun, practice) or an action (verb, practise)? Apply the answer to practising and practised as well, remember that "practice makes perfect" and "best practice" are nouns, and the pair stops being a trap. For the full set of spelling differences across countries, see our British vs American vs Australian spelling guide.