Past Tense of Spread | Definition & Examples

The simple past tense of spread is spread. “Spread” is also the past participle of the verb “spread,” which means “distribute, expand, or extend over a wide area.”

Spread past tense in a sentence examples
Simple past tense of spread Past participle of spread
He spread the frosting as evenly as he could and then added the birthday candles. You haven’t spread it very evenly, have you?
The wildfire spread rapidly across the dry forest. When I returned, she had spread out a map of the city across the table.
She spread her arms, inviting the child to jump down from the wall. Experts now believe that the disease was spread by humans, not rats.

*Spreaded

The past tense of “spread” is not spreaded. The simple past and past participle form of the irregular verb “spread” is spread (i.e., you don’t add “-ed” to the end of the infinitive to make these forms).

Other irregular verbs that have the same infinitive, simple past, and past participle forms include “bet,” “cost,” “cut,” and “put.”

You won’t find “spreaded” listed as a word in dictionaries.

Spread (not spreaded) in a sentence examples
  • Who do you think spread the rumor?
  • Who do you think spreaded the rumor?
  • We spread out across the field to look for the ball.
  • We spreaded out across the field to look for the ball.
  • You haven’t spread the peanut butter thickly enough.
  • You haven’t spreaded the peanut butter thickly enough.

Frequently asked questions about the past tense of spread

What does spread out mean?

The phrasal verb spread out means “move apart, distribute, expand, or grow so as to cover a larger area or period of time.”

Spread out in a sentence examples
He took the toys out of the box and spread them out on the floor.

The roots of these plants will spread out very quickly.

Instead of having workshops every day, we could spread them out over five weeks.

When using “spread out” in different tenses, remember that the past tense of spread is also “spread,” not “spreaded” (so the simple past tense and past participle forms of “spread out” are both “spread out”).

Why not use QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker to check that you’re using “spread out” correctly in your text?

Is spreaded a word?

No, spreaded is not a word. You will not find “spreaded” listed in dictionaries.

The past tense of spread is also “spread,” not “spreaded” (i.e., the infinitive, simple past tense and past participle forms of “spread” are all “spread”).

QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker will help you to pick up verb conjugation errors like “spreaded” in your writing.

What’s the meaning of spread thin?

You say that you’ve spread yourself too thin when you’re trying to do too many things at the same time and therefore can’t do any of them as well as you would like.

When using the phrase “spread yourself too thin” in different tenses, bear in mind that the past tense of spread is also “spread,” not “spreaded” (i.e., the simple past tense and past participle forms of “spread” are both “spread”).

Spread thin in a sentence examples
I used to say “yes” to everything and spread myself too thin.

Won’t you be spreading yourself a bit too thin if you join the debating society too?

Have you tried QuillBot’s free Paraphraser? You can use it to find alternative ways of expressing “spread yourself too thin” in your specific context.

Is this article helpful?
Tom Challenger, BA

Tom holds a teaching diploma and is an experienced English language teacher, teacher trainer, and translator. He has taught university courses and worked as a teacher trainer on Cambridge CELTA courses.