Which to use
“despised” is a verb and “despite” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,773
- “despised” frequency rank
- #1,075
- “despite” frequency rank
- 22848
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | despised | despite |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of despise | In spite of, not with standing. |
Letter map: despised vs despite
Shared letters muted; letters that set despised and despite apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. despised runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against despite's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: despised vs despite
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: despised is averb and despiteapreposition. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22848, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
despised is recorded at frequency rank #21,773, classified as averb. 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 22848, this pair ranks #413,569 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of despised vs despite
Shared letters: deips. Private to "despised": -. Private to "despite": t.
"despised" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "despite" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "despised" for "despite" ever safe?
Which is more common, "despised" or "despite"?
What to do next
Pair "despised" vs "despite" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "despised" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "despite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #413,569 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "despised" and "despite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "despite vs despot". 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 #413,569 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.