Which to use
“speed” and “spread” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,917
- “speed” frequency rank
- #48,805
- “spread” frequency rank
- 58722
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | speed | spread |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Amphétamine utilisée comme drogue. | Écart entre deux valeurs, deux taux, notamment sur les obligations d’États différents mais utilisant une même monnaie. |
Where the eye mixes speed and spread
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between speed and spread
A purely visual mix-up. speed (\spid\) and spread (\spʁɛd\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58722, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
speed is recorded at frequency rank #9,917, classified as anoun, pronounced \spid\. spread is at rank #48,805, tagged as anoun, pronounced \spʁɛd\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 58722, this pair ranks #107,326 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of speed vs spread
Shared letters: deps. Private to "speed": -. Private to "spread": ar.
"speed" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "spread" · 6 letters · shape CCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "speed" and "spread" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "speed" vs "spread" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "speed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spread" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #107,326 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "speed" and "spread" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spread vs sureau". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #107,326 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.