sudden
/ˈsʌdn̩/
"sudden" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sudden” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,659. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #3,659
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 10
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Occurring quickly with little or no warning or expectation; instantly.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sudden · sudden · English
sudden · rank #3,659 · 7 variants · 10 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #3,659
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 10 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH string
Nearest frequency peer: string (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “sudden”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- spiritual
spiritual
96,345 corpus weight
- stops
stops
96,344 corpus weight
- string
string
96,343 corpus weight
- sudden
sudden
96,342 corpus weight
- Sweden
Sweden
96,341 corpus weight
- Syria
Syria
96,340 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “sudden” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | sudden |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈsʌdn̩/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #3,659 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 10 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sudden” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around sudden (IPA /ˈsʌdn̩/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #3,659 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for sudden, with forms such as "sduden", "ssudden", and "suddenn". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 10 confusable-pair relationships, "suede", "Sweden", "sunken", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sodeyn, sodain, from Anglo-Norman sodein, from Old French sodain, subdain (“immediate, sudden”), from Vulgar Latin *subitānus (“sudden”), from Latin subitāneus (“sudden”), from subitus (“sudden", literally, "that which has come stealthil… The correct English form is sudden, spelled S-U-D-D-E-N.
Definition
- 1Occurring quickly with little or no warning or expectation; instantly.
- 2Hastily prepared or employed; quick; rapid.
- 3Hasty; violent; rash; precipitate.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sudden appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The sudden drop in temperature left everyone cold and confused.
From lightninges and tempeſtes, from plage, peſtilence, and famine, from battayle and murther, and from ſodayn death. / Good lord deliver us.
Etymology
From Middle English sodeyn, sodain, from Anglo-Norman sodein, from Old French sodain, subdain (“immediate, sudden”), from Vulgar Latin *subitānus (“sudden”), from Latin subitāneus (“sudden”), from subitus (“sudden", literally, "that which has come stealthily”), originally the past participle of subīre (“to come or go stealthily”), from sub (“under”) + īre (“go”). Doublet of subitaneous. Displaced native Old English fǣrlīċ.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- sduden
- ssudden
- suddenn
- suddne
- sudedn
- suden
- usdden
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sudden - 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sudden", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "sudden". Here's where to go from here.
- "sudden" maps to 10 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "suede". View pair
- 7 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #3,659 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "S" letter cohort. S–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.