spread like wildfire
"spread-like-wildfire" is a 18-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“spread like wildfire” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 20
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To spread or disseminate rapidly or uncontrollably.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | spread like wildfire |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 20 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “spread like wildfire” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
spread like wildfire is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To spread or disseminate rapidly or uncontrollably.".
Zero misspellings are on record for spread like wildfire in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is spread like wildfire, spelled S-P-R-E-A-D- -L-I-K-E- -W-I-L-D-F-I-R-E.
Definition
- 1To spread or disseminate rapidly or uncontrollably.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “spread like wildfire”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-P-R-E-A-D- -L-I-K-E- -W-I-L-D-F-I-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.