View source for Defence - defense - offence - offense

In Britain, always '''offen<big>c</big>e''' and '''defen<big>c</big>e'''. 

The 's' spelling ('''offen<big>s</big>e''') is [[American English]].  The [[adjective]]s '''offensive''' and '''defensive''' are always spelled with an 's' in both dialects of English, as is the adjective meaning 'capable of being defended' (used both [[literal]]ly and [[figurative]]ly) '''defensible'''.

Note that in both '''offence'''/'''offen<big>s</big>e''' and '''defence'''/'''defen<big>s</big>e''' there is a difference in pronunciation in particular the [[stress]]: in UK English, the second [[syllable]] is clearly stressed, and the first un-stressed.  In American English, the first syllable usually has the stronger stress - though for some speakers, the stress is fairly even.

[[category:Spelling common errors]]
[[category:Typos]]
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[[category:AmE]]
[[category:pronunciation]]