maintain

[meɪnˈteɪn]

/[meɪnˈteɪn]/ verb

The verdict

“maintain” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency German
8
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - erhalten, aufrechterhalten

Corpus desk

Index DE-maintain · maintain · German

maintain · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "M" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for maintain
PropertyValue
Headwordmaintain
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[meɪnˈteɪn]
Letters8
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „maintain“ im Deutschen

maintainsitzt jenseits der 100.000 häufigsten deutschen Formen, im Schwanz spezialisierten oder seltenen Wortschatzes.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

maintain is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed [meɪnˈteɪn]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

maintain doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is maintain, spelled M-A-I-N-T-A-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    erhalten, aufrechterhalten
  2. 2
    fortsetzen, nähren, versorgen
  3. 3
    behaupten, verfechten

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how maintain appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. "I maintained a grave silence for some minutes."
  2. "…; and that in his last moments he had required a promise of Mrs. Reed that she would rear and maintain me as one of her own children."

Synonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "maintain"?
"maintain" is spelled M-A-I-N-T-A-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is [meɪnˈteɪn].
What does "maintain" mean?
As a verb, "maintain" means: erhalten, aufrechterhalten
How do you pronounce "maintain"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "maintain" is [meɪnˈteɪn]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "maintain" come from?
"maintain" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list