sudden
/ˈsʌdn̩/
"sudden" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sudden” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,659 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #3,659
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 10
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Occurring quickly with little or no warning or expectation; instantly.
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
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sudden is 6 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsʌdn̩/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,659 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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.
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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Using “sudden”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-U-D-D-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsʌdn̩/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “suede” - see the side-by-side comparison. sudden vs suede
- 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.