Spectrin, &agr;‐actinin and dystrophin make up a closely related group, termed spectrin superfamily. We have carried out a preliminary analysis of the repeating amino acid sequences in the rod‐shaped domains of these proteins and made use of structural constraints imposed by &agr;‐helical coiled‐coil‐like packing. We show that the common conformation of these repeats may be described four‐&agr;‐helix motif found in many globular proteins.