Despatch or dispatch?
despatch is a noun meaning “Alternative form of dispatch”; dispatch is a noun meaning “A message sent quickly, as a shipment, a prompt settlement of a business, or an…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) dispatch is about 12 times as common as despatch.
What is the difference between despatch and dispatch?
| despatch | dispatch | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | verb, noun |
| Meaning | Alternative form of dispatch | To send (a shipment) with promptness To send (a person) away hastily A message sent quickly, as a shipment, a prompt settlement of a business, or an important official message sent by a diplomat, government official, military… |
| Example | none recorded | We must act with dispatch in this matter |
| Forms | despatches | dispatches |
| Pronunciation | /dɪˈspætʃ/ /dəˈspætʃ/ /dɪˈspæt͡ʃ/ | /dɪˈspæt͡ʃ/ /dəˈspæt͡ʃ/ |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words | 5.8 times per million words |
Sources: despatch and dispatch in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of despatch and dispatch
despatch
- 1
Alternative form of dispatch
- 2
Alternative form of dispatch
dispatch
- 1
To send (a shipment) with promptness
- 2
A message sent quickly, as a shipment, a prompt settlement of a business, or an important official message sent by a diplomat, government official, military officer, etc
- 3
To send (a person) away hastily
- 4
The act of doing something quickly
We must act with dispatch in this matter
- 5
To send (an important official message) promptly, by means of a diplomat or military officer
- 6
A mission by an emergency response service, typically involving attending to an emergency in the field
- 7
To send (a journalist) to a place in order to report
- 8
The passing on of a message for further processing, especially through a dispatch table
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, despatch or dispatch?
despatch appears about once in every 2 million words; dispatch 5.8 times per million words.
despatch about once in every 2 million wordsdispatch 5.8 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search despatch vs dispatch?
“despatch vs dispatch” is searched about 320 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“dispatch vs despatch”, “despatch or dispatch”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.