# dispense

> English word · Verb · IPA /dɪˈspɛns/ · frequency rank #25,039

## Definitions
1. To issue, distribute, or give out.
2. To apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct.
3. To supply or make up a medicine or prescription.
4. To give a dispensation to (someone); to excuse.
5. To compensate; to make up; to make amends.

## Etymology
From Middle English, from Old French dispenser, from Latin dispēnsāre (“to weigh out, pay out, distribute, regulate, manage, control, dispense”), frequentative of dispendere (“to weigh out”), from dis- (“apart”) + pendere (“to weigh”).

## Easily confused with
- **dispose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dispense-vs-dispose)
- **disperse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dispense-vs-disperse)
- **dispersed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dispense-vs-dispersed)
- **dispenser** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dispense-vs-dispenser)
- **disease** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/disease-vs-dispense)

## Common misspellings (12)
`ddispense`, `dipsense`, `disepnse`, `dispenes`, `dispennse`, `dispensse`, `dispesne`, `dispnese`, `disppense`, `disspense`, `dsipense`, `idspense`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/dispense