Raise always acts on something else: you raise your hand, raise a child, raise the rent. Rise happens by itself, with nothing after it: the sun rises, prices rise, dough rises. If you can slot the word "it" straight after the verb — "raise it" — you want <em>raise</em>; if not, you want <em>rise</em>.
The core difference: does the verb take an object?
This pair is separated by grammar rather than meaning. Raise is transitive — it demands something to be raised. Rise is intransitive — the subject goes up under its own steam, and the verb takes no object.
Their parts differ too, and getting these wrong is the commonest slip. Raise is regular: raise, raised, raised. Rise is not: rise, rose, risen. So it is the river rose overnight and the river has risen, but they raised the barrier and they have raised the barrier.
Using each one
- She raised the blind and let the light in. (blind = the object)
- The blind rose with a clatter. (no object)
- The charity raised £40,000 in a week.
- Costs have risen faster than wages.
- He was raised in Cork. — people are raised; only the passive puts raised at the end of a clause.
The test you can run
Say your sentence with it immediately after the verb. Raise it is fine English; rise it is not. So if your sentence has a noun naming the thing being lifted or increased — a hand, a question, the rent, a child — the word is raise. If the thing doing the going-up is the subject, use rise.
Take care with one lookalike: not every noun after the verb is an object. In the river rose three feet and prices rose 5% last year, the noun measures the rise rather than receives it, so rise is still correct.
A second check for the past tense: rose and risen never take an object. If you have written he rose the flag, you need raised.
The noun, and the transatlantic split
Both work as nouns, and here dialect matters. American English calls an increase in pay a raise; British and Irish English call it a rise. So I asked my boss for a raise (US) and I asked my boss for a rise (UK) are both correct in their own places. Outside pay, rise is the normal noun everywhere: a rise in temperature, the rise of the novel.
The edge case
Arise is the abstract cousin of rise, used for problems, opportunities and questions rather than physical movement: an issue has arisen. And rise up is not redundant padding — it is an established phrase for rebellion. Meanwhile raise up is largely regional or scriptural; in ordinary prose, plain raise is enough.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it "the sun raises" or "the sun rises"?
The sun rises. Nothing is being lifted by the sun, so the intransitive verb is required. The past is "the sun rose", not "the sun raised".
Is it "raise a question" or "rise a question"?
Raise a question. The question is the thing being brought up, so it is the object of the verb — and rise can never take an object.
Do I ask for a pay rise or a pay raise?
Both are correct, depending on where you are. "Pay rise" is standard in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand; "raise" is the American term.