prudence
/ˈpɹuːd(ə)n(t)s/
"prudence" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“prudence” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #26,210 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #26,210
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The quality or state of being prudent: circumspection and good judgment in knowing how best to act; (countable, archaic) an instance of this.
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 | prudence |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɹuːd(ə)n(t)s/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #26,210 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “prudence” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for prudence is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpɹuːd(ə)n(t)s/. Corpus data places it at rank #26,210 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for prudence, with forms such as "pprudence", "prduence", and "prrudence". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "prudent", "presence", "Provence", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English prudence (“discretion; foresight; knowledge; intelligence, wisdom; act of good judgment; wisdom to see what is virtuous”), from Anglo-Norman prudence, Middle French prudence, and Old French prudence (“common sense; wisdom”) (modern Frenc… The correct English form is prudence, spelled P-R-U-D-E-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1The quality or state of being prudent: circumspection and good judgment in knowing how best to act; (countable, archaic) an instance of this.
- 2Synonym of frugality (“the quality of avoiding unnecessary expenditure; economy, parsimony, thrift, thriftiness”).
- 3Synonym of providence (“preparation for the future; foresight”).
- 4Synonym of wisdom (“an element of personal character that enables one to distinguish the wise from the unwise; wise advice”).
Etymology
From Middle English prudence (“discretion; foresight; knowledge; intelligence, wisdom; act of good judgment; wisdom to see what is virtuous”), from Anglo-Norman prudence, Middle French prudence, and Old French prudence (“common sense; wisdom”) (modern French prudence), and from their etymon Latin prūdentia (“common sense; discretion, prudence; foresight; knowledge; providence; skilfulness; wisdom”), from prūdent- (the stem of prūdēns (“knowledgeable, skilful; wise, prudent”)) + -ia (suffix forming first-declension feminine abstract nouns). Prūdēns is a contraction of prōvidēns (“caring for; foreseeing; providing”) (whence prōvidentia (“foreknowledge, foresight; forethought, precaution, providence”)), the present active participle of prōvideō (“to care for, look after; to foresee; to provide, see to”), from prō- (prefix meaning ‘forward; prior’) + videō (“to perceive, see; to comprehend, understand; to look out for, care for”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see; to know”)). Doublet of provide and purvey.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: pprudence,prduence,prrudence,prudance,pruddence,prudecne,prudencce,prudenec,prudennce,prudnece,pruednce,purdence,rpudence
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of prudence - 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
How do you spell "prudence"?
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Using “prudence”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-R-U-D-E-N-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpɹuːd(ə)n(t)s/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “prudent” - see the side-by-side comparison. prudence vs prudent
- 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.