all of a sudden
/ˌɔl əv ə ˈsʌdən/
"all-of-a-sudden" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“all of a sudden” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 15
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Suddenly, quickly, without warning.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | all of a sudden |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /ˌɔl əv ə ˈsʌdən/ |
| Letters | 15 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “all of a sudden” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
all of a sudden is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed /ˌɔl əv ə ˈsʌdən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Suddenly, quickly, without warning.".
all of a sudden has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is all of a sudden, spelled A-L-L- -O-F- -A- -S-U-D-D-E-N.
Definition
- 1Suddenly, quickly, without warning.
This word in other languages
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
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Using “all of a sudden”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-L-L- -O-F- -A- -S-U-D-D-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌɔl əv ə ˈsʌdən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.