Which to use
“dispense” is a noun and “dispensés” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,342
- “dispense” frequency rank
- #23,173
- “dispensés” frequency rank
- 39515
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dispense | dispensés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Exemption, acte par lequel on dispense une personne de quelque chose. | Participe passé masculin pluriel de dispenser. |
Where the eye mixes dispense and dispensés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. dispense runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against dispensés's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dispense with dispensés
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dispense is \dis.pɑ̃s\ while dispensés is \dis.pɑ̃.se\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39515, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dispense is recorded at frequency rank #16,342, classified as anoun, pronounced \dis.pɑ̃s\. dispensés is at rank #23,173, tagged as averb, pronounced \dis.pɑ̃.se\.
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 39515, this pair ranks #247,373 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dispense vs dispensés
Shared letters: deinps. Private to "dispense": -. Private to "dispensés": é.
"dispense" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "dispensés" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dispense ← ddispense · dipsense · disepnse · dispenes · dispennse · dispensse · dispesne · dispnese
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dispense" and "dispensés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "dispense" or "dispensés" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dispense" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dispensés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #247,373 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dispense" and "dispensés" 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 #247,373 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.