dispel
di·spel[dɪˈspɛɫ]verb, noun
dispel is spelled D-I-S-P-E-L, 2 syllables: di·spel. The wrong spelling people search most is dispell: about 190 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Dispel is a verb meaning “To drive away or cause to vanish by scattering”.
How many letters and syllables are in dispel?
| Letters | 6: D-I-S-P-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: di·spel |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words; the 25,367th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, dispell, about 190 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell dispel?
Dispel is spelled D-I-S-P-E-L. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for dispel in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is dispel?
Dispel appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,367th 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 dispel?
- [dɪˈspɛɫ]
Dispel has 2 syllables, split di·spel in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-dispel.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of dispel
- dispels present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- dispelling participle, present
- dispelled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does dispel mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To drive away or cause to vanish by scattering.
The clouds and mist were soon enough dispelled by the sun.
- 2
To remove (fears, doubts, objections etc.) by proving them unjustified.
- 3
To get rid of or manage without.
noun
- 1
An act or instance of dispelling.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Dispel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | chasser, dissiper |
| German | zerstreuen , ausräumen |
| Portuguese | dissipar, dispersar |
| Spanish | desvanecer, despejar, difuminar, dispeler |
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 dispel come from?
From Middle English dispelen, from Latin dispellere (“to disperse; to dispel”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).