TOEIC Link Part 5: disburse versus disperse

Disburse and disperse differ by exactly one vowel — a u versus an e in the second syllable — and Part 5 knows your eye is likely to slide right past it. But the two verbs live in separate worlds: one is a finance word about paying out money, the other is a physics-flavored word about scattering. Once you read the slot for what is being moved — funds or a crowd — the one-letter difference stops being a trap. For the general discipline of letting meaning, not sound, decide these items, see word choice versus word form.

The core rule: pay out, or scatter

disburse is a verb meaning to pay out money, typically from a fund, budget, or account: The foundation disbursed the grant in three installments. / Funds will be disbursed to each department next quarter. Its object is almost always money — funds, a grant, a payment, a loan. The related noun is disbursement.
disperse is a verb meaning to scatter or spread out in different directions, or to break up: Police asked the crowd to disperse. / The seeds are dispersed by the wind. Its subject or object is usually people, particles, light, or a substance — anything that spreads across space. The related noun is dispersal (or dispersion).

A memory hook: disburse contains b for budget and bursar (the officer who pays out funds) — money leaving a purse. disperse contains sp for spread and spatial — things spreading across space. If the slot is about money, it is disburse; if it is about scattering, it is disperse.

How to read the slot

Money as the object → disburse. When the sentence has the funds, the grant, the loan, payments, the action is paying out: The bank disburses the loan after approval.
People or a substance spreading → disperse. When the sentence has the crowd, the smoke, the participants, the assets across markets, the action is scattering: The gathering dispersed peacefully.
Test with a paraphrase. Try "pay out" — if it fits, choose disburse. Try "scatter / spread out" — if that fits instead, choose disperse.

Common Part 5 traps

Financial passages favor disburse. Sentences about budgets, grants, and installments point to paying out. A disperse distractor is the classic swap, but you cannot "scatter" a grant — the object forces disburse.
Investment contexts can tempt disperse. When money is "spread across" markets or accounts, the scattering sense can seem plausible; but if the emphasis is on paying money out from a source, it is still disburse. Read for the direction: out of a fund (disburse) versus across a space (disperse).
Crowds, weather, and light always mean disperse. The fog dispersed, the committee dispersed after the vote — none of these involve money, so the vowel is forced.

Quick check

Decide which verb fits, then confirm with the "pay out" versus "scatter" test.

The scholarship office will (blank) the tuition award in September.
The demonstrators began to (blank) once the rain started.
Emergency relief funds were (blank) within 48 hours.
Strong winds (blank) the volcanic ash across the region.

Answers: 1. disburse (paying out an award) — 2. disperse (a crowd scattering) — 3. disbursed (paying out funds) — 4. dispersed (scattering a substance across space).

The one-line takeaway

If the slot is about paying money out of a fund, it is disburse. If it is about scattering or spreading across space, it is disperse. The vowel is the whole test — anchor it to the object (money versus everything else) and this question decides itself. For another finance-flavored confusable, review the reasoning pattern in collaborate versus corroborate, where the object of the verb again breaks the tie.