儘管意思相去甚遠，甚至截然不同、毫不相關，但這兩個動詞極為相似的拼字很容易讓人搞混。
Dissemble 是個文學或書面用字，當及物動詞時意為 「掩飾，隱瞞 (感情、情緒、意圖等)」，如 He tried to dissemble his disappointment with a joke. (他企圖以玩笑來掩飾其失望)；She dissembled her feelings of fear so well that no one suspected how frightened she was. (她的恐懼感掩飾得很好，所以沒有人察覺她有多麼害怕)。
Dissemble 當不及物動詞時意為 「假裝，隱藏，矯飾」，如 The only way to fool his captors was to dissemble, to pretend to be cowed. (欺騙綁匪的唯一方法就是假裝，裝作被嚇壞了)。
Disassemble 意為 「拆卸，拆開，分解」，是 assemble (組裝，裝配) 的相反詞，如 The child disassembled the alarm clock in record time. (這小孩以從未有過的短時間拆開鬧鐘)。