despised

verb

"despised" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“despised” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #21,773 in English word frequency and used as a verb.

#21,773
frequency rank, English
8
letters
12
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - simple past and past participle of despise

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

despised vs despite
75% similar
despised vs devised
75% similar
despised vs destined
75% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for despised
PropertyValue
Headworddespised
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters8
Frequency rank#21,773
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “despised” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). despised lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for despised is 8 letters long, classified as a verb. Corpus data places it at rank #21,773 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "simple past and past participle of despise".

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for despised, with forms such as "ddespised", "depsised", and "desipsed". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "despite", "devised", "destined", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is despised, spelled D-E-S-P-I-S-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    simple past and past participle of despise

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ddespised,depsised,desipsed,despiesd,despisde,despisedd,despissed,desppised,despsied,desspised,dsepised,edspised

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of despised - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ddespised1depsised2desipsed2despiesd2despisde2despisedd1despissed1desppised1
Edit distance from "despised"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "despised"?
"despised" is spelled D-E-S-P-I-S-E-D.
What does "despised" mean?
As a verb, "despised" means: simple past and past participle of despise
What words are commonly confused with "despised"?
"despised" is commonly confused with "despite", "devised", "destined". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "despised" come from?
"despised" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “despised”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is D-E-S-P-I-S-E-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Don't mix it up with “despite” - see the side-by-side comparison. despised vs despite
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list