The 20^th century saw a remarkable explosion of knowledge regarding the mechanisms of cell motility, with the recognition that different classes of motility are involved in almost every cell function. One class, crawling motility, is typical of metazoan derived tissue culture cells. We have developed a quantitative cell-spreading assay for describing crawling motility and have identified a small number of discrete, cytoskeletal organizations, or motility types. Each motility type is characterized by a specific organization of actin polymerization, myosin activity, and adhesion formation, and all have been observed during mouse fibroblast cell spreading as well as across a range of eukaryotic phyla and cell types. During spreading, cells exhibit a series of functional phases, including early adhesion and fast spreading, each with a different combination of motility types. The final phase of spreading is characterized by periodic lamellipodial contractions, a motility type that coordinates adhesion formation and edge protrusion, allowing for eventual polarization and migration. We propose that this hierarchy of functional phases and conserved, discrete motility types represents a general organizational principle in motility regulation.