Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell sustain

Sustain is spelled S-U-S-T-A-I-N.

hear itsus·tain/sə'steɪn/verbSchwa and roots

What it means: To provide support or nourishment.

In a sentence: The big tree can sustain many birds on its branches.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear.

Same family: sustainable, sustainability, sustained, sustaining, sustainment. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: Sustain comes from Latin "sustinēre," meaning "to hold up or support," from "sub" (from below) + "tenere" (to hold). Over time, its meaning expanded from physically holding something up to keeping an action or state going over a long period.

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

Everyone has words they always get wrong. Spelling.School finds yours, shows you exactly why you miss them, and uses spaced repetition until you spell them right every time. Five minutes a day. Try five words without signing up.