despise vs despite, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“despise” is a verb and “despite” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,934
“despise” frequency rank: #1,075
“despite” frequency rank: 16009
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	despise	despite
Definition	To regard with contempt or scorn.	In spite of, not with standing.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set despise and despite apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

despise

7 ch

despite

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: despise is /dɪˈspaɪz/ while despite is /dɪˈspaɪt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “despise” becomes t in “despite”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16009, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

despise is recorded at frequency rank #14,934, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈspaɪz/. despite is at rank #1,075, tagged as aprep, pronounced /dɪˈspaɪt/.

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 16009, this pair ranks #460,465 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of despise vs despite

Shared letters: deips. Private to "despise": -. Private to "despite": t.

"despise" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "despite" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

despise ← ddespise · depsise · desipse · despies · despisse · desppise · despsie · desspise
despite ← ddespite · depsite · desipte · despiet · despitte · desppite · desptie · desspite

Frequency comparison

despise#14,934

despite#1,075

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "despise" and "despite" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "despise" is a verb and "despite" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "despise" or "despite"?

"despite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,075 in our English list, against #14,934 for "despise". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering despise vs despite

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “despise”; for a preposition, it's “despite”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “despise” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable