Which to use
“disperse” is a verb and “dispersed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,578
- “disperse” frequency rank
- #14,937
- “dispersed” frequency rank
- 34515
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | disperse | dispersed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To scatter in different directions. | Spread out in space and/or time; not concentrated. |
Where the eye mixes disperse and dispersed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. disperse runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against dispersed's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses disperse with dispersed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: disperse is /dɪˈspɜːs/ while dispersed is /dɪˈspɝst/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “disperse” sits inside “dispersed”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34515, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
disperse is recorded at frequency rank #19,578, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈspɜːs/. dispersed is at rank #14,937, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɪˈspɝst/.
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 34515, this pair ranks #320,141 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of disperse vs dispersed
Shared letters: deiprs. Private to "disperse": -. Private to "dispersed": -.
"disperse" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "dispersed" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "disperse" and "dispersed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "disperse" or "dispersed" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "disperse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dispersed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #320,141 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "disperse" and "dispersed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "discerned vs dispersed". 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 #320,141 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.