“advice” vs. “advise”
Use "advice" as the noun naming the recommendation itself, and "advise" as the verb describing the act of giving that recommendation.
advice
"Advice" is a noun meaning a recommendation or opinion offered to help someone ("give me some advice," "good advice"). It's uncountable in standard English — you don't say "an advice" or "advices" — and it comes from Old French "avis," itself from Latin "ad visum," roughly "according to what is seen," a phrase originally meaning something like "as it appears to me."
advise
"Advise" is a verb meaning to give advice or recommend a course of action ("I advise you to wait," "she advises clients on tax matters"). It comes from the same Old French "aviser," the verb form of the same root, and the two words split into a noun/verb pair in English much the way "practice/practise" did in British spelling, though "advice/advise" kept the distinction consistently in both American and British English.
The real distinction
The reliable test is the same noun/verb split used for "affect/effect": "advice" is the thing you receive or give (a noun), while "advise" is the act of giving it (a verb). The pronunciation actually differs too, in a way that offers a genuine spoken clue: "advice" ends with an "s" sound (rhyming with "nice"), while "advise" ends with a "z" sound (rhyming with "wise") — a distinction native speakers usually make instinctively in speech even when they're unsure how to spell the words. This c/s spelling pattern for a noun-versus-verb pair isn't unique to advice/advise; English has a small family of similar pairs where a c-spelling marks the noun and an s-spelling marks the verb, including "practice/practise" (in British English), "license/licence" (also British), and "device/devise." Because "advice" is uncountable, writers sometimes mistakenly pluralize it as "advices" by analogy with countable nouns, an error especially common among speakers of languages where the equivalent word is countable; the correct way to count instances of advice in English is "pieces of advice" or "a piece of advice," not a plural of the word itself. Because the spelling difference is so small — just one letter, c versus s — and the pronunciation difference is subtle enough that many speakers don't consciously register it, this pair rewards a deliberate proofreading pass rather than trusting the ear alone, especially in professional writing like résumés, reports, or client emails, where "advise" wrongly used as a noun stands out immediately to any careful reader who already knows the distinction well. Career and business writing shows this error especially often, since job titles and services frequently include phrases like "financial advice" or "legal advice" that get typed quickly and sometimes slip into the verb spelling by habit, particularly in headlines and page titles where writers tend to move fastest and proofread least carefully.
Examples with “advice”
- Her advice helped me make the right decision.
- I'm not looking for advice right now, just someone to listen.
- The financial advice he gave was surprisingly practical.
- Take my advice and book the tickets early.
- Her grandmother's advice still guides her today.
- The advice in that book changed how I plan my week.
- He never takes anyone's advice about money.
- Their advice was to wait until the market settled.
Examples with “advise”
- She advises small businesses on tax planning.
- I'd advise you to read the contract carefully first.
- The doctor advised him to rest for a week.
- They advise clients on investment strategy.
- I advise waiting until prices drop before buying.
- The lawyer advised against signing without review.
- She advises the board on legal matters.
- We were advised to arrive an hour early.
Memory trick
Both "advice" and "ice" end the same way and sound like a hard, finished thing you're handed — the noun. Both "advise" and "wise" rhyme, and giving advice is meant to make someone wiser — a hook tying the verb to its z-sound ending. One more useful check: if the word could be replaced by "a recommendation," you need the noun "advice"; if it could be replaced by "to recommend," you need the verb "advise."