Which to use
“despatched” is a verb and “despatches” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,365
- “despatched” frequency rank
- #47,575
- “despatches” frequency rank
- 85940
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | despatched | despatches |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of despatch | plural of despatch |
Where the eye mixes despatched and despatches
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: despatched vs despatches
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: despatched is /dɪˈspæt͡ʃt/ while despatches is /dɪsˈpætʃəz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “despatched” becomes s in “despatches”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85940, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
despatched is recorded at frequency rank #38,365, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈspæt͡ʃt/. despatches is at rank #47,575, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɪsˈpætʃəz/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 85940, this pair ranks #9,641 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of despatched vs despatches
Shared letters: acdehpst. Private to "despatched": -. Private to "despatches": -.
"despatched" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC · "despatches" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- despatched ← ddespatched · depsatched · desaptched · despacthed · despatcched · despatcehd · despatchde · despatchedd
- despatches ← ddespatches · depsatches · desaptches · despacthes · despatcches · despatcehs · despatchess · despatchhes
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "despatched" for "despatches" ever safe?
Frequency check: "despatched" vs "despatches" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "despatched" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "despatches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #9,641 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "despatched" and "despatches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "despatch vs despatches". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #9,641 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.