# span

> English word · Noun · IPA /spæn/ · frequency rank #6,416

## Definitions
1. The full width of an open hand from the end of the thumb to the end of the little finger used as an informal unit of length.
2. Any of various traditional units of length approximating this distance, especially the English handspan of 9 inches forming ⅛ fathom and equivalent to 22.86 cm.
3. A small space or a brief portion of time.
4. A portion of something by length; a subsequence.
5. The spread or extent of an arch or between its abutments, or of a beam, girder, truss, roof, bridge, or the like, between supports.
6. The length of a cable, wire, rope, chain between two consecutive supports.
7. A rope having its ends made fast so that a purchase can be hooked to the bight; also, a rope made fast in the center so that both ends can be used.
8. A pair of horses or other animals driven together; usually, such a pair of horses when similar in color, form, and action.
9. The space of all linear combinations of vectors within a set.
10. The time required to execute a parallel algorithm on an infinite number of processors, i.e. the shortest distance across a directed acyclic graph representing the computation steps.
11. wingspan of a plane or bird

## Etymology
From Middle English spanne, from Old English spann, from Proto-Germanic *spannō (“span, handbreadth”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to stretch”).
Cognate with Dutch span, spanne, German Spanne. The sense “pair of horses” is probably from Old English ġespan, ġespann (“a joining; a fastening together; clasp; yoke”), from Proto-West Germanic [Term?]. Cognate with Dutch gespan, German Gespann.

## Easily confused with
- **sun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-sun)
- **spy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-spy)
- **STA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-sta)
- **SPD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-spd)
- **syn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-syn)
- **SPF** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-spf)
- **SPS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-sps)
- **SSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-ssa)
- **SPL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-spl)
- **SSN** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-ssn)
- **SPR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-spr)
- **stay** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-stay)
- **star** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-star)
- **spot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-spot)
- **spin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-spin)
- **stan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-stan)
- **stat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-stat)
- **swap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-swap)
- **spit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-spit)
- **swan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/span-vs-swan)

## Common misspellings (6)
`psan`, `sapn`, `spann`, `spna`, `sppan`, `sspan`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/span