supply
sup·ply/səˈplaɪ/verb, noun, adverb
supply is spelled S-U-P-P-L-Y, 2 syllables: sup·ply. The wrong spelling people search most is suply: about 140 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 40 of all searches for the word. Supply is a verb meaning “To provide (something), to make (something) available for use”.
How many letters and syllables are in supply?
| Letters | 6: S-U-P-P-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: sup·ply |
| In writing | 65 times per million words; the 1,636th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, suply, about 140 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 supply?
Supply is spelled S-U-P-P-L-Y. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 27 of the searches for supply in either form.
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 supply?
Supply appears 65 times per million words in written English, the 1,636th 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 supply?
- /səˈplaɪ/
- [sʌˈpʰɫaɪ]
As an adverb (“Supplely: in a supple manner, with suppleness”): /ˈsʌp.li/.
Supply has 2 syllables, split sup·ply in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-supply.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-supply_(adv).wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of supply
- supplies present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- supplying participle, present
- supplied participle, past
- more supply comparative
- most supply superlative
- supplely
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does supply mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To provide (something), to make (something) available for use.
to supply money for the war
- 2
To furnish or equip with.
to supply a furnace with fuel; to supply soldiers with ammunition
- 3
To fill up, or keep full.
Rivers are supplied by smaller streams.
- 4
To compensate for, or make up a deficiency of.
- 5
To serve instead of; to take the place of.
- 6
To act as a substitute.
- 7
To fill temporarily; to serve as substitute for another in, as a vacant place or office; to occupy; to have possession of.
to supply a pulpit
noun
- 1
The act of supplying.
- 2
An amount of something supplied.
A supply of good drinking water is essential.
- 3
The market force that causes sellers to be both willing and able to sell a good or service, as measured by the amount of that good or service that is currently available to be bought at any given price point; the amount itself.
Supply and demand ebb and flow in a complex interplay.
- 4
Provisions.
They are busy laying in supplies for the coming winter.
- 5
An amount of money provided, as by Parliament or Congress, to meet the annual national expenditures.
to vote supplies
- 6
Somebody, such as a teacher or clergyman, who temporarily fills the place of another; a substitute.
adverb
- 1
Supplely: in a supple manner, with suppleness.
Grigory hesitantly took her in his arms to kiss her, but she held him off, bent supply backwards and shot a frightened glance at the windows. 'They'll see!' 'Let them!' 'I'd be ashamed–'
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Supply in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fournir, approvisionner , approvisionnement, fourniture , vivres |
| German | zur Verfügung stellen, bereitstellen, liefern, versorgen mit , Versorgung , ausrüsten |
| Portuguese | suprir, prover, fornecer, abastecer , abastecimento, suprimento |
| Spanish | abastecer, abastar, suministrar, subministrar, suplir , esquifar |
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 supply come from?
From Middle English supplien, borrowed from Old French soupleer, souploier, from Latin suppleo (“to fill up, make full, complete, supply”). The Middle English spelling was modified to conform to Latin etymology.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).