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dispatch

dis·patch/dɪˈspæt͡ʃ/verb, noun

dispatch is spelled D-I-S-P-A-T-C-H: 8 letters and 2 syllables (dis·patch). It appears 5.8 times per million words in written English, the 10,196th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “despatch vs dispatch” about 320 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, dispatch means “To send (a shipment) with promptness” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in dispatch?

Letters8: D-I-S-P-A-T-C-H
Syllables2: dis·patch
In writing5.8 times per million words; the 10,196th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is dispatch?

Dispatch appears 5.8 times per million words in written English, the 10,196th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce dispatch?

  • UK /dɪˈspæt͡ʃ/
  • US /dɪˈspæt͡ʃ/
  • US /dəˈspæt͡ʃ/

Dispatch has 2 syllables, split dis·patch in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-dispatch.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with dispatch

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

despatch vs dispatch320 G

Also written: despatch.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with dispatch?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as dispatch from its last stressed vowel (/ætʃ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of dispatch

  • dispatches present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • dispatching participle, present
  • dispatched participle, past
  • despatch UK

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does dispatch mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To send (a shipment) with promptness.

  2. 2

    To send (a person) away hastily.

  3. 3

    To send (an important official message) promptly, by means of a diplomat or military officer.

  4. 4

    To send (a journalist) to a place in order to report.

  5. 5

    To dispose of speedily, as business; to execute quickly; to make a speedy end of; to finish; to perform.

  6. 6

    To eat, especially quickly.

  7. 7

    To rid; to free.

  8. 8

    To destroy (someone or something) quickly and efficiently.

noun

  1. 1

    A message sent quickly, as a shipment, a prompt settlement of a business, or an important official message sent by a diplomat, government official, military officer, etc.

  2. 2

    The act of doing something quickly.

    We must act with dispatch in this matter.

  3. 3

    A mission by an emergency response service, typically involving attending to an emergency in the field.

  4. 4

    The passing on of a message for further processing, especially through a dispatch table.

  5. 5

    obsoleteA dismissal.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Dispatch in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanverschicken, versenden (to send with promptness), beeilen (to hurry), besiegen (to defeat), entziehen (to deprive), Depesche (message sent quickly)
Portuguesedespachar (to send with promptness), apressar-se (to hurry), privar (to deprive), despacho (message sent quickly)
Spanishdespachar (to send with promptness), privar (to deprive), despacho, envío urgente (message sent quickly), despacharse (to destroy quickly and efficiently), envío (act of dispatching)
Frenchdépêche (message sent quickly)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does dispatch come from?

Borrowed from Spanish despachar and/or Italian dispacciare. Further etymology is uncertain. For first element des-, see dis-. Second element probably from either Vulgar Latin *pactāre (“to fasten"”), *pactiare or Latin -pedicāre (“to entrap, shackle”), from pedica, from pēs. Ultimately related to impeach through shared Latin root. The first known use in writing (in the past tense, spelled as dispached) is by Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall in 1517.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after dispatch