subdued
/səbˈdud/
"subdued" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“subdued” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #17,970 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #17,970
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Conquered; overpowered; crushed; submissive.
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 | subdued |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /səbˈdud/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #17,970 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “subdued” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for subdued is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /səbˈdud/. Corpus data places it at rank #17,970 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for subdued, with forms such as "sbudued", "ssubdued", and "subbdued". 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, "subdue", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is subdued, spelled S-U-B-D-U-E-D.
Definition
- 1Conquered; overpowered; crushed; submissive.
- 2Not glaring in color; soft and light in tone.
- 3Reduced in intensity or strength; toned down.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: sbudued,ssubdued,subbdued,subddued,subdeud,subdude,subduedd,subuded,sudbued,usbdued
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of subdued - 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 “subdued”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-U-B-D-U-E-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /səbˈdud/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “subdue” - see the side-by-side comparison. subdued vs subdue
- 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.