wheelspan

wheelspan noun: the distance between two wheels on the same axle. Also the simple past of wheelspin.

Noun

wheelspan (plural wheelspans)

The distance between two wheels on the same axle.
- 6 WHEELERS / WHEELSPANS UP TO 18’ 0”1966 September 16, Commercial Motor, page 23
- A Job-Rated version of the 1-ton P300 with lower 6,000 lbs. GVW and the same 104 in. and 126 in. wheelspans.2001, James T. Lenzke, editor, Standard Catalog of American Light-Duty Trucks: Pickups, Panels, Vans, All Models, 1896-2000, Krause Publications, →ISBN, page 273

wheelspan is also the simple past of wheelspin.

We’re already pushing the envelope of acceptability with a longer fork, the wheelspan and the sloping top tube.2009, Andrew Edwards, Fixed: Global Fixed-Gear Bike Culture, Laurence King Publishing, →ISBN, page 103:
The rhomboidal design of the Mk I, with the tracks running around the outside of the hull, meant that it had an equivalent “wheelspan” to a wheeled vehicle with 60-foot (18 m) wide wheels!2014, Joel Levy, Fifty Weapons That Changed the Course of History, Firefly Books, →ISBN, page 137:

plural	wheelspans

From wheel + span.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

What does wheelspan mean?: Wheelspan means the distance between two wheels on the same axle.
How do you use wheelspan in a sentence?: We’re already pushing the envelope of acceptability with a longer fork, the wheelspan and the sloping top tube.
What part of speech is wheelspan?: Wheelspan is a noun.
What is the plural of wheelspan?: The plural of wheelspan is wheelspans.

Adapted from Wiktionary: wheelspan (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “wheelspan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/wheelspan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.