Klei

[klaɪ̯]

/[klaɪ̯]/ noun

The verdict

“Klei” is uncommon German (frequency #70,463 among 4,158 “K” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#70,463
frequency rank, German
4,158
“K” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - norddeutsch, auch Bodenkunde: der schwere, lehmige, fette, bindige Boden der Marsch

Corpus desk

Index DE-klei · Klei · German

Klei · rank #70,463 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #70,463
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,158
  • PHOTO-FINISH Klause

Nearest frequency peer: Klause (-1 rank slots)

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.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „Klei“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „Klei“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Klei
PropertyValue
HeadwordKlei
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[klaɪ̯]
Letters4
Frequency rank#70,463
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Klei“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).Kleifällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Klause“ (#70,462), „Kleiderbügel“ (#70,464), „Klassenzimmern“ (#70,461). Unter 4,158 „K“-Lemmata liegt „Klei“ bei #70,463. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Klei is uncommon German at frequency #70,463 among 4,158 “K” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [klaɪ̯]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "norddeutsch, auch Bodenkunde: der schwere, lehmige, fette, bindige Boden der Marsch".

Klei has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is Klei, spelled K-L-E-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    norddeutsch, auch Bodenkunde: der schwere, lehmige, fette, bindige Boden der Marsch

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how Klei appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. „Klei, der lehmähnliche Schlickboden an der Küste, bildet den Deichmantel, der Sand ist der Deichkern.“
  2. „Östlich von Soest liegt der Bad Sassendorfer Ortsteil Enkesen, dem man zur Unterscheidung den Zusatz 'im Klei' gab. Und jener fette, aber nicht sehr tief reichende Tonboden, eben der Klei, ist schon seit Jahrhunderten charakteristisch für diese Landschaft.“

Synonyms

Antonyms

Sandboden

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 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Klei"?
"Klei" is spelled K-L-E-I. The IPA pronunciation is [klaɪ̯].
What does "Klei" mean?
As a noun, "Klei" means: norddeutsch, auch Bodenkunde: der schwere, lehmige, fette, bindige Boden der Marsch
How do you pronounce "Klei"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Klei" is [klaɪ̯]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Klei" come from?
"Klei" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Klei", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list