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PlainSpell

substitute

sub·sti·tute/ˈsʌb.stɪ.tʃuːt/verb, noun

substitute is spelled S-U-B-S-T-I-T-U-T-E, 3 syllables: sub·sti·tute. The wrong spelling people search most is subsitute: about 240 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 26 of all searches for the word. Substitute is a verb meaning “To use in place of something else, with the same function”.

How many letters and syllables are in substitute?

Letters10: S-U-B-S-T-I-T-U-T-E
Syllables3: sub·sti·tute
In writing15 times per million words; the 5,407th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, subsitute, about 240 Bing searches a month (all of them)

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How do you spell substitute?

Substitute is spelled S-U-B-S-T-I-T-U-T-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 26 of the searches for substitute in either form.

substitutethe right spelling5,960 searches a month
subsitutea missing t240 searches a month

Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.

How common is substitute?

Substitute appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,407th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce substitute?

  • /ˈsʌb.stɪ.tʃuːt/
  • /ˈsʌb.stɪ.tjuːt/
  • /ˈsʌb.stɪ.tut/

Substitute has 3 syllables, split sub·sti·tute in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-substitute.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of substitute

  • substitutes present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • substituting participle, present
  • substituted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does substitute mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To use in place of something else, with the same function.

    I had no shallots so I substituted onion.

  2. 2

    To use X in place of Y.

    I had to substitute new parts for the old ones.

  3. 3

    To use Y in place of X; to replace X with Y.

    I had to substitute old parts with the new ones.

  4. 4

    To remove (a player) from the field of play and bring on another in his place.

    He was playing poorly and was substituted after twenty minutes

  5. 5

    To serve as a replacement (for someone or something).

noun

  1. 1

    A replacement or stand-in for something that achieves a similar result or purpose.

  2. 2

    A substitute teacher.

  3. 3

    A player who is available to replace another if the need arises, and who may or may not actually do so.

  4. 4

    One who enlists for military service in the place of a conscript.

  5. 5

    Abbreviation of substitute good.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate substitute?

Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of substitute: sub, sub., subst.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Substitute in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmettre en place de, remplacer, substituer (to use in place of something else), remplaçant, substitut (replacement or stand-in)
Germanersetzen (to use in place of something else), Ersatz (replacement or stand-in), auswechseln (sports: to remove from the field and bring on…), Ersatzspieler, Austauschspieler, Auswechselspieler (player who is available to replace another)
Portuguesesubstituir (to use in place of something else), substituto (replacement or stand-in), suplente (player who is available to replace another)
Spanishsustituir, substituir (to use in place of something else), sustituto, substituto (replacement or stand-in)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does substitute come from?

From Middle English substituten, from Latin substitutus, past participle of substituō, from sub- (“under; beneath”) + statuō (“to put up; establish”). Displaced native Old English spala (“a substitute”) and spelian (“to substitute”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after substitute