suspend
/səsˈpɛnd/
"suspend" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“suspend” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #11,619 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #11,619
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To halt something temporarily.
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 | suspend |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /səsˈpɛnd/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #11,619 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “suspend” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for suspend is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /səsˈpɛnd/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,619 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 9 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 suspend, with forms such as "ssupend", "ssuspend", and "supsend". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "suspense", "suspended", "spend", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French sospendre, from Latin suspendere. The correct English form is suspend, spelled S-U-S-P-E-N-D.
Definition
- 1To halt something temporarily.
- 2To hold in an undetermined or undecided state.
- 3To discontinue or interrupt a function, task, position, or event.
- 4To hang freely; underhang.
- 5To bring a solid substance, usually in powder form, into suspension in a liquid.
- 6To make to depend.
- 7To debar, or cause to withdraw temporarily, from any privilege, from the execution of an office, from the enjoyment of income, etc.
- 8To support in a liquid, as an insoluble powder, by stirring, to facilitate chemical action.
- 9To remove the value of an unused coupon from an air ticket, typically so as to allow continuation of the next sectors' travel.
Etymology
From Old French sospendre, from Latin suspendere.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ssupend,ssuspend,supsend,susepnd,suspedn,suspendd,suspennd,suspned,susppend,susspend,usspend
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of suspend - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “suspend”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-U-S-P-E-N-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /səsˈpɛnd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “suspense” - see the side-by-side comparison. suspend vs suspense
- 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.