diff --git a/distutils/cmd.py b/distutils/cmd.py
index 241621bd..47e84a11 100644
--- a/distutils/cmd.py
+++ b/distutils/cmd.py
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@
 import re
 import sys
 from abc import abstractmethod
-from collections.abc import Callable, MutableSequence
-from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, ClassVar, TypeVar, overload
+from collections.abc import Callable, MutableSequence, Sequence
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, ClassVar, Literal, TypeVar, overload
 
 from . import _modified, archive_util, dir_util, file_util, util
 from ._log import log
@@ -467,6 +467,20 @@ def move_file(
         """Move a file respecting dry-run flag."""
         return file_util.move_file(src, dst, dry_run=self.dry_run)
 
+    @overload
+    def spawn(
+        self,
+        cmd: Sequence[bytes | os.PathLike[bytes] | str | os.PathLike[str]],
+        search_path: Literal[False],
+        level: int = 1,
+    ) -> None: ...
+    @overload
+    def spawn(
+        self,
+        cmd: Sequence[bytes | os.PathLike[bytes] | str | os.PathLike[str]],
+        search_path: Literal[True] = True,
+        level: int = 1,
+    ) -> None: ...
     def spawn(
         self, cmd: MutableSequence[str], search_path: bool = True, level: int = 1
     ) -> None:
diff --git a/distutils/compilers/C/base.py b/distutils/compilers/C/base.py
index 93385e13..f62bb471 100644
--- a/distutils/compilers/C/base.py
+++ b/distutils/compilers/C/base.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 import re
 import sys
 import warnings
-from collections.abc import Callable, Iterable, MutableSequence, Sequence
+from collections.abc import Callable, Iterable, Sequence
 from typing import (
     TYPE_CHECKING,
     ClassVar,
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@
 )
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from subprocess import _ENV
+
     from typing_extensions import TypeAlias, TypeVarTuple, Unpack
 
     _Ts = TypeVarTuple("_Ts")
@@ -70,7 +72,7 @@ class Compiler:
     # dictionary (see below -- used by the 'new_compiler()' factory
     # function) -- authors of new compiler interface classes are
     # responsible for updating 'compiler_class'!
-    compiler_type: ClassVar[str] = None  # type: ignore[assignment]
+    compiler_type: ClassVar[str] = None
 
     # XXX things not handled by this compiler abstraction model:
     #   * client can't provide additional options for a compiler,
@@ -1152,8 +1154,28 @@ def execute(
     ) -> None:
         execute(func, args, msg, self.dry_run)
 
+    @overload
+    def spawn(
+        self,
+        cmd: Sequence[bytes | os.PathLike[bytes] | str | os.PathLike[str]],
+        *,
+        search_path: Literal[False],
+        verbose: bool = False,
+        env: _ENV | None = None,
+    ) -> None: ...
+    @overload
+    def spawn(
+        self,
+        cmd: Sequence[bytes | str | os.PathLike[str]],
+        *,
+        search_path: Literal[True] = True,
+        verbose: bool = False,
+        env: _ENV | None = None,
+    ) -> None: ...
     def spawn(
-        self, cmd: MutableSequence[bytes | str | os.PathLike[str]], **kwargs
+        self,
+        cmd: Sequence[bytes | os.PathLike[bytes] | str | os.PathLike[str]],
+        **kwargs,
     ) -> None:
         spawn(cmd, dry_run=self.dry_run, **kwargs)
 
diff --git a/distutils/compilers/C/msvc.py b/distutils/compilers/C/msvc.py
index 6db062a9..fd088c60 100644
--- a/distutils/compilers/C/msvc.py
+++ b/distutils/compilers/C/msvc.py
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@
 import subprocess
 import unittest.mock as mock
 import warnings
-from collections.abc import Iterable
+from collections.abc import Iterable, Sequence
+from typing import Literal, overload
 
 with contextlib.suppress(ImportError):
     import winreg
@@ -95,7 +96,8 @@ def _find_vc2017():
             subprocess.CalledProcessError, OSError, UnicodeDecodeError
         ):
             path = (
-                subprocess.check_output([
+                subprocess
+                .check_output([
                     os.path.join(
                         root, "Microsoft Visual Studio", "Installer", "vswhere.exe"
                     ),
@@ -557,14 +559,34 @@ def link(
         else:
             log.debug("skipping %s (up-to-date)", output_filename)
 
-    def spawn(self, cmd):
+    @overload  # type: ignore[override] # env param not available
+    def spawn(
+        self,
+        cmd: Sequence[bytes | os.PathLike[bytes] | str | os.PathLike[str]],
+        *,
+        search_path: Literal[False],
+        verbose: bool = False,
+    ) -> None: ...
+    @overload
+    def spawn(
+        self,
+        cmd: Sequence[bytes | str | os.PathLike[str]],
+        *,
+        search_path: Literal[True] = True,
+        verbose: bool = False,
+    ) -> None: ...
+    def spawn(
+        self,
+        cmd: Sequence[bytes | os.PathLike[bytes] | str | os.PathLike[str]],
+        **kwargs,
+    ):
         env = dict(os.environ, PATH=self._paths)
-        with self._fallback_spawn(cmd, env) as fallback:
-            return super().spawn(cmd, env=env)
+        with self._fallback_spawn(cmd, env, **kwargs) as fallback:
+            return super().spawn(cmd, env=env, **kwargs)
         return fallback.value
 
     @contextlib.contextmanager
-    def _fallback_spawn(self, cmd, env):
+    def _fallback_spawn(self, cmd, env, **kwargs):
         """
         Discovered in pypa/distutils#15, some tools monkeypatch the compiler,
         so the 'env' kwarg causes a TypeError. Detect this condition and
@@ -580,7 +602,7 @@ def _fallback_spawn(self, cmd, env):
             return
         warnings.warn("Fallback spawn triggered. Please update distutils monkeypatch.")
         with mock.patch.dict('os.environ', env):
-            bag.value = super().spawn(cmd)
+            bag.value = super().spawn(cmd, **kwargs)
 
     # -- Miscellaneous methods -----------------------------------------
     # These are all used by the 'gen_lib_options() function, in
diff --git a/distutils/compilers/C/tests/test_base.py b/distutils/compilers/C/tests/test_base.py
index a762e2b6..64a17364 100644
--- a/distutils/compilers/C/tests/test_base.py
+++ b/distutils/compilers/C/tests/test_base.py
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ def c_file(tmp_path):
     all_headers = gen_headers + plat_headers
     headers = '\n'.join(f'#include <{header}>\n' for header in all_headers)
     payload = (
-        textwrap.dedent(
+        textwrap
+        .dedent(
             """
         #headers
         void PyInit_foo(void) {}
diff --git a/distutils/spawn.py b/distutils/spawn.py
index 973668f2..7074698c 100644
--- a/distutils/spawn.py
+++ b/distutils/spawn.py
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@
 import subprocess
 import sys
 import warnings
-from collections.abc import Mapping, MutableSequence
-from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, TypeVar, overload
+from collections.abc import Mapping, Sequence
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Literal, TypeVar, overload
 
 from ._log import log
 from .debug import DEBUG
@@ -52,8 +52,24 @@ def _resolve(env: _MappingT | None) -> _MappingT | os._Environ[str]:
     return os.environ if env is None else env
 
 
+@overload
+def spawn(
+    cmd: Sequence[bytes | os.PathLike[bytes] | str | os.PathLike[str]],
+    search_path: Literal[False],
+    verbose: bool = False,
+    dry_run: bool = False,
+    env: _ENV | None = None,
+) -> None: ...
+@overload
+def spawn(
+    cmd: Sequence[bytes | str | os.PathLike[str]],
+    search_path: Literal[True] = True,
+    verbose: bool = False,
+    dry_run: bool = False,
+    env: _ENV | None = None,
+) -> None: ...
 def spawn(
-    cmd: MutableSequence[bytes | str | os.PathLike[str]],
+    cmd: Sequence[bytes | os.PathLike[bytes] | str | os.PathLike[str]],
     search_path: bool = True,
     verbose: bool = False,
     dry_run: bool = False,
@@ -81,7 +97,7 @@ def spawn(
     if search_path:
         executable = shutil.which(cmd[0])
         if executable is not None:
-            cmd[0] = executable
+            cmd = [executable, *cmd[1:]]
 
     try:
         subprocess.check_call(cmd, env=_inject_macos_ver(env))