tread
/tɹɛd/verb, noun
tread is spelled T-R-E-A-D: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.3 times per million words in written English, the 14,509th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, tread means “To step or walk (on or across something); to trample” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in tread?
| Letters | 5: T-R-E-A-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.3 times per million words; the 14,509th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is tread?
Tread appears 3.3 times per million words in written English, the 14,509th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce tread?
- /tɹɛd/
Tread has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-tread.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with tread?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as tread.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: trade, rated, dater.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of tread
- treads present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- treading participle, present
- trod past, participle
- treaded past, participle
- trodden participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tread mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To step or walk (on or across something); to trample.
He trod back and forth wearily.
- 2
To step or walk upon.
Actors tread the boards.
- 3
To proceed, to behave (in a certain manner).
to tread lightly, to tread gently
- 4
To beat or press with the feet.
to tread a path; to tread land when too light; a well-trodden path
- 5
To work a lever, treadle, etc., with the foot or the feet.
- 6
To go through or accomplish by walking, dancing, etc.
- 7
To crush under the foot; to trample in contempt or hatred; to subdue; to repress.
- 8
To copulate; said of (especially male) birds.
noun
- 1
A step taken with the foot.
- 2
A manner of stepping.
- 3
The sound made when someone or something is walking.
- 4
obsoleteA way; a track or path.
- 5
A walking surface in a stairway on which the foot is placed.
- 6
The grooves carved into the face of a tire, used to give the tire traction.
- 7
The grooves on the bottom of a shoe or other footwear, used to give grip or traction.
- 8
The chalaza of a bird's egg; the treadle.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Tread in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fouler, marcher sur , piétiner , marche , bande de roulement |
| German | betreten, treten, auftreten, stapfen, begehen, trampeln |
| Portuguese | pisar , espezinhar |
| Spanish | pisar, hollar , zapatear, pisotear, patullar, apisonar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does tread come from?
From Middle English treden, from Old English tredan, from Proto-West Germanic *tredan, from Proto-Germanic *trudaną.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).