Vendor or Vender: Which Spelling Is Correct?

Use vendor. It’s the standard spelling for a person or company that sells something, in both American and British English.

Vender isn’t a typo, though. It’s a real spelling that dictionaries still list. It has simply become rare, so most readers will think it’s a mistake. If you’re stuck on vendor or vender in an email, an invoice, or a contract, pick vendor.

Both spellings mean the same thing and sound the same. Vendor works for street sellers, big companies, and everything in between:

• The hospital switched infusion-pump vendors after the recall.
• Our school district posts every approved vendor on its online bidding portal.
• Stadium vendors walked the aisles selling peanuts in the seventh inning.

What Dictionaries Actually Say About Vender

Some usage sites call vender a misspelling. The major dictionaries don’t agree. They treat it as a real word that comes second to vendor.

Dictionary	How it treats vender	What that tells you
Merriam-Webster	A less common variant of vendor	Real, but the backup spelling
American Heritage	A variant form of vendor	Same verdict
Dictionary.com	Has its own entry, defined simply as “vendor”	It points you back to vendor
Wiktionary	An alternative spelling, rare in modern writing	Rare, but still around

So vender is not wrong the way “recieve” is wrong. It’s correct but unusual, and unusual spellings distract readers. That’s the real reason to avoid it.

Why Vender Looks Right When You Type It

English usually builds a word for “a person who does something” by adding -er to a verb: sell becomes seller, buy becomes buyer. The verb here is vend, meaning “to sell.” So vend + -er gives you vender, and your brain approves.

Vender was formed exactly that way in the 1590s. Vendor arrived in the same decade, borrowed from the French spoken by England’s lawyers and officials. Merriam-Webster dates vendor’s first known use to 1594.

The two spellings competed for a long time. According to Etymonline, vendor was the one lawyers preferred, and the legal form eventually won.

How Vender Faded From Print

Google’s Ngram data, which counts words in millions of books, shows how the race played out. Here’s how many times vendor appeared for every one vender:

Year	Vendor uses per vender
1800	about 1
1850	about 9
1900	about 28
2000	about 150
2022	about 77

Around 1800, the two spellings were nearly tied. By 2000, vendor was far ahead. The later numbers bounce around, but vender never comes close again.

Treat the small vender counts with some caution. Spanish and Portuguese use vender as a verb, and Vender is also a surname. Both show up in English-language books, so real English uses of vender are probably even rarer.

That history explains why older books use vender without blinking. In Omoo (1847), Herman Melville describes an illicit “vender of spirits.” In The Awakening (1899), Kate Chopin mentions a fruit vender on the street.

When Vender Is The Right Spelling To Keep

The simple rule says always write vendor. A few situations call for leaving vender alone:

• Quoting an old text. Keep Melville’s or Chopin’s spelling exactly as printed. Changing it would misquote them.
• Quoting a modern source word for word. In July 2025, Salon printed a lawyer’s statement calling a client “simply a vender.” A direct quote keeps the original spelling.
• Names. Vender is a real surname. Spell people’s names the way they do.
• Spanish or Portuguese text. In both languages, vender means “to sell,” as in Quiero vender mi coche (“I want to sell my car”). That’s a different word, not a misspelling.
• House style. If a publication’s style guide asks for vender, follow it for that publication.

In every other case, write vendor.

Vendor in Contracts and Code

In law, vendor has a narrower meaning: the seller in a sale, especially a sale of land or a house. The buyer is the vendee.

• The vendee’s lawyer asked the vendor to fix the title defect before closing.
• The vendor agreed to pay for the survey under the purchase contract.

A memory trick: legal pairs often split into -or for the person who gives and -ee for the person who receives. Think lessor and lessee, or mortgagor and mortgagee. Vendor and vendee follow the same pattern, which is why the -or spelling stuck in law.

On pronunciation, both spellings normally sound like “VEN-der.” Merriam-Webster also lists “ven-DOR,” with the stress on the second syllable. Dictionary.com notes that speakers use this stress for contrast, which helps when vendor and vendee appear in the same sentence.

In software, vendor has become a verb. To “vendor” your code’s dependencies means copying the outside code your project relies on into your own project folder. Go developers do this with one command:

• Run go mod vendor to copy the dependencies into the repo.

Outside programming, using vendor as a verb still sounds odd. Brians’ Common Errors in English Usage calls it nonstandard. Use sell or vend instead.

Incorrect	Correct
She’s been vendoring candles at craft fairs.	She’s been selling candles at craft fairs.
Caterers must be vendored before the event.	Caterers must be approved as vendors before the event.

Mistakes That Travel With Vendor

A few related errors show up in the same kinds of writing:

Incorrect	Correct	Why
The vender machine on the third floor only takes cards.	The vending machine on the third floor only takes cards.	The machine is a “vending machine,” built from the verb vend.
The food truck venders tacos near the park.	The food truck vends tacos near the park.	In English, the verb is vend. Vender is never a verb.
The vendor paid the vendor for the house.	The vendee paid the vendor for the house.	In a property sale, the buyer is the vendee.

On its own, vendor can also mean the machine itself. American Heritage and Collins both list that sense, though “vending machine” is far more common.

Common Questions That People About Vender and Vendor

Is vender the American spelling?

No. Vendor is the main spelling on both sides of the Atlantic. Merriam-Webster, an American dictionary, calls vender less common. Collins, a British dictionary, puts its definitions under vendor too.

So you won’t find a color/colour split here. Wedding vendors in Ohio and market vendors in Leeds spell the word the same way.

The spelling to use in anything you send or sign

For invoices, contracts, reports, and websites, write vendor. Save vender for exact quotes, people’s names, and older texts that already use it. Leaving those alone is the only reason to keep the rarer spelling.

Discover More Related Articles:

Gaff vs. Gaffe: Which Spelling Means the Mistake?

Abel vs. Able: The Name and the Word for “Can”

Above vs. Over: How to Choose the Right Word

Ad vs. Add: Which Spelling Do You Need?

GFYS Meaning in Text: Risky Acronym Everyone Gets Wrong (2026)

55+ Math Words That Start With J (With Meanings and Examples)