Which to use
“dispersed” and “displeased” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,937
- “dispersed” frequency rank
- #30,006
- “displeased” frequency rank
- 44943
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dispersed | displeased |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Spread out in space and/or time; not concentrated. | Not pleased or happy with something. |
Where the eye mixes dispersed and displeased
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. dispersed runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against displeased's 10 (CVCCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dispersed with displeased
A purely visual mix-up. dispersed (/dɪˈspɝst/) and displeased (/dɪsˈpliːzd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44943, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dispersed is recorded at frequency rank #14,937, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɪˈspɝst/. displeased is at rank #30,006, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɪsˈpliːzd/.
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 44943, this pair ranks #225,900 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dispersed vs displeased
Shared letters: deips. Private to "dispersed": r. Private to "displeased": al.
"dispersed" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "displeased" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dispersed ← ddispersed · dipsersed · diseprsed · disperesd · disperrsed · dispersde · dispersedd · disperssed
- displeased ← ddispleased · dipsleased · dislpeased · dispelased · displaesed · displeaesd · displeasde · displeasedd
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dispersed" and "displeased" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "dispersed" vs "displeased" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dispersed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "displeased" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #225,900 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dispersed" and "displeased" 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 #225,900 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.