Which to use
“spray” and “spread” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,379
- “spray” frequency rank
- #48,805
- “spread” frequency rank
- 72184
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spray | spread |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vaporisateur. | Écart entre deux valeurs, deux taux, notamment sur les obligations d’États différents mais utilisant une même monnaie. |
Where the eye mixes spray and spread
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: spray vs spread
A purely visual mix-up. spray (\spʁɛ\) 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 72184, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spray is recorded at frequency rank #23,379, classified as anoun, pronounced \spʁɛ\. 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 72184, this pair ranks #44,904 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of spray vs spread
Shared letters: aprs. Private to "spray": y. Private to "spread": de.
"spray" · 5 letters · shape CCCVV · "spread" · 6 letters · shape CCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "spray" for "spread" ever safe?
Frequency check: "spray" 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 "spray" 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 #44,904 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spray" 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 #44,904 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.