# spread

> English word · Verb · IPA /spɹɛd/ · frequency rank #1,650

## Definitions
1. To stretch out, open out (a material etc.) so that it more fully covers a given area of space.
2. To extend (individual rays, limbs etc.); to stretch out in varying or opposing directions. simple past and past participle of spread
3. To disperse, to scatter or distribute over a given area.
4. To proliferate; to become more widely present, to be disseminated.
5. To disseminate; to cause to proliferate, to make (something) widely known or present.
6. To take up a larger area or space; to expand, be extended.
7. To smear, to distribute in a thin layer.
8. To cover (something) with a thin layer of some substance, as of butter.
9. To prepare; to set and furnish with provisions.
10. To open one’s legs, especially for sexual favours.

## Etymology
From Middle English spreden, from Old English sprǣdan (“to spread, expand”), from Proto-Germanic *spraidijaną (“to spread”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)per- (“to strew, sow, sprinkle”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian spreede (“to spread”), West Frisian spriede (“to spread”), North Frisian spriedjen (“to spread”), Dutch spreiden (“to spread”), Low German spreden (“to spread”), German spreiten (“to spread, spread out”), Danish sprede (“to spread”), Norwegian spre, spreie (“to spread, disseminate”), Swedish sprida (“to spread”), Latin spernō, spargō, Ancient Greek σπείρω (speírō), Persian سپردن (sepordan, “to deposit”), English spurn.

## Easily confused with
- **spree** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spread-vs-spree)
- **stead** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spread-vs-stead)
- **stream** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spread-vs-stream)
- **streak** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spread-vs-streak)
- **spreader** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spread-vs-spreader)
- **sped** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sped-vs-spread)
- **speak** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/speak-vs-spread)
- **speed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/speed-vs-spread)
- **spend** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spend-vs-spread)
- **spray** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spray-vs-spread)
- **spear** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spear-vs-spread)
- **shred** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shred-vs-spread)
- **scream** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scream-vs-spread)
- **spared** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spared-vs-spread)
- **shrewd** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shrewd-vs-spread)
- **Sinead** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sinead-vs-spread)

## Common misspellings (9)
`psread`, `sperad`, `sppread`, `spraed`, `spreadd`, `spreda`, `sprread`, `srpead`, `sspread`

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