What’s the Difference between Prize and Price?

In German, ‘prize‘ and ‘price‘ have just one equivalent word—’der Preis‘. That’s probably why these two words are often confused.

So what’s the difference?

A ‘prize‘ (with a soft ‘z’) is something you win in a competition or game. 

“I won first prize in the race.”

‘Price‘ (with a hard ‘s’) is the money you pay for something when you buy it.

“What’s the price of this pen?”

Before you use the word ‘price’ again, just take a split second to ask yourself whether you really mean ‘price‘ or ‘prize‘!

Does that help?