# speech

> English word · Noun · IPA /spiːt͡ʃ/ · frequency rank #1,506

## Definitions
1. The ability to speak; the faculty of uttering words or articulate sounds and vocalizations to communicate.
2. The act of speaking, a certain style of it.
3. A formal session of speaking, especially a long oral message given publicly by one person.
4. A dialect, vernacular, or (dated) a language.
5. Language used orally, rather than in writing.
6. An utterance that is quoted; see direct speech, reported speech
7. Public talk, news, gossip, rumour.

## Etymology
From Middle English speche, from Old English spǣċ, sprǣċ (“speech, discourse, language”), from Proto-West Germanic *sprāku (“speech, language”), from Proto-Indo-European *spereg-, *spreg- (“to make a sound”). Cognate with Dutch spraak (“speech”), German Sprache (“language, speech”). More at speak.

## Easily confused with
- **speed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/speech-vs-speed)
- **speer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/speech-vs-speer)
- **speeds** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/speech-vs-speeds)
- **speedy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/speech-vs-speedy)
- **Spence** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/speech-vs-spence)
- **stench** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/speech-vs-stench)
- **spieth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/speech-vs-spieth)
- **speedo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/speech-vs-speedo)
- **speeches** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/speech-vs-speeches)
- **spec** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spec-vs-speech)
- **specs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/specs-vs-speech)
- **speck** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/speck-vs-speech)
- **sketch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sketch-vs-speech)
- **sheesh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheesh-vs-speech)
- **screech** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/screech-vs-speech)

## Common misspellings (9)
`pseech`, `sepech`, `speceh`, `spech`, `speecch`, `speechh`, `speehc`, `sppeech`, `sspeech`

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