Which to use
“dépense” and “dispense” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,855
- “dépense” frequency rank
- #16,342
- “dispense” frequency rank
- 21197
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépense | dispense |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | L’argent qu’on emploie à quelque chose que ce puisse être. | Exemption, acte par lequel on dispense une personne de quelque chose. |
Where the eye mixes dépense and dispense
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: dépense vs dispense
A purely visual mix-up. dépense (\de.pɑ̃s\) and dispense (\dis.pɑ̃s\) 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 21197, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépense is recorded at frequency rank #4,855, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.pɑ̃s\. dispense is at rank #16,342, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dis.pɑ̃s\.
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 21197, this pair ranks #364,398 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dépense vs dispense
Shared letters: denps. Private to "dépense": é. Private to "dispense": i.
"dépense" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "dispense" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dispense ← ddispense · dipsense · disepnse · dispenes · dispennse · dispensse · dispesne · dispnese
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dépense" and "dispense" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "dépense" or "dispense" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépense" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dispense" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #364,398 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépense" and "dispense" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "disease vs dispense". 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 #364,398 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.