Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell fasten

hear itfas·ten/'fæsən/verbSilent and tricky

What it means: To make something secure or tight.

In a sentence: Please fasten your seat belt before the ride starts!

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as faston or fastten.

Same family: fast, fastened, fastening, unfasten, fastener. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Fasten” comes from Old English “fæstnian,” meaning to make firm or secure, related to the adjective “fast” meaning fixed or firm rather than “quick.” Over time, the idea of making something firm or secure gave us the modern sense of fastening things like belts, doors, and buttons.

Patterns it uses: The unstressed vowel (schwa)

Try spelling it

You will hear the word and a sentence. Type it and press Enter. Then four more words from the same level, so you know where you stand.

Words like this

Spelling.School is a spaced-repetition spelling practice: ten minutes a day, every word spoken aloud, every miss explained, and every word coming back just before you would forget it. Try five words without signing up.