stubborn
/ˈstʌbɚn/
"stubborn" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“stubborn” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #10,286 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #10,286
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Refusing to move or to change one's opinion; obstinate; firmly resisting; persistent in doing something.
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 | stubborn |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈstʌbɚn/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #10,286 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “stubborn” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for stubborn is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈstʌbɚn/. Corpus data places it at rank #10,286 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for stubborn, with forms such as "sstubborn", "stbuborn", and "sttubborn". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "stubbornly", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English stiborne, stibourne, stoburn, stoburne, styburne, stiborn, of uncertain origin; one hypothesis is that it may be from Old English *stybbor, from Old English stybb (“a stump, stub”) + -or (adjective-formation suffix, as in bitor, whence E… The correct English form is stubborn, spelled S-T-U-B-B-O-R-N.
Definition
- 1Refusing to move or to change one's opinion; obstinate; firmly resisting; persistent in doing something.
- 2Of materials: physically stiff and inflexible; not easily melted or worked.
Etymology
From Middle English stiborne, stibourne, stoburn, stoburne, styburne, stiborn, of uncertain origin; one hypothesis is that it may be from Old English *stybbor, from Old English stybb (“a stump, stub”) + -or (adjective-formation suffix, as in bitor, whence English bitter).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: sstubborn,stbuborn,sttubborn,stubbonr,stubbornn,stubborrn,stubbron,stubobrn,stuborn,sutbborn,tsubborn
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of stubborn - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “stubborn”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-U-B-B-O-R-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈstʌbɚn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “stubbornly” - see the side-by-side comparison. stubborn vs stubbornly
- 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.