allude
/əˈljuːd/
"allude" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“allude” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #41,500 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #41,500
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To refer to something indirectly or by suggestion; to invoke it by implication rather than mention.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | allude |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /əˈljuːd/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #41,500 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “allude” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for allude is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈljuːd/. Corpus data places it at rank #41,500 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To refer to something indirectly or by suggestion; to invoke it by implication rather than mention.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for allude, with forms such as "alldue", "allued", and "alulde". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "aloud", "allure", "alluded", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French alluder, from Latin alludere (“to play with or allude”), from ad + ludere (“to play”). The correct English form is allude, spelled A-L-L-U-D-E.
Definition
- 1To refer to something indirectly or by suggestion; to invoke it by implication rather than mention.
Etymology
From Middle French alluder, from Latin alludere (“to play with or allude”), from ad + ludere (“to play”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: alldue,allued,alulde,lalude
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of allude - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “allude”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-L-L-U-D-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈljuːd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “aloud” - see the side-by-side comparison. allude vs aloud
- 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.