clam
/klæm/
"clam" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“clam” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #21,750 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #21,750
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A bivalve mollusk of many kinds, especially those that are edible; for example soft-shell clams (Mya arenaria), hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria), sea clams or hen clams (Spisula solidissima), and...
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 | clam |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /klæm/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #21,750 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “clam” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for clam is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /klæm/. Corpus data places it at rank #21,750 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 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for clam, with forms such as "cclam", "clamm", and "cllam". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "CM", "cum", "CPA", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English clam (“pincers, vice, clamp”), from Old English clam (“bond, fetter, grip, grasp”), from Proto-West Germanic *klammjan (“press, squeeze together”). The sense “dollar” may allude to wampum. The sense "Scientologist" alludes to the Sciento… The correct English form is clam, spelled C-L-A-M.
Definition
- 1A bivalve mollusk of many kinds, especially those that are edible; for example soft-shell clams (Mya arenaria), hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria), sea clams or hen clams (Spisula solidissima), and other species, possibly originally applied to clams of species Tridacna gigas, a huge East Indian bivalve.
- 2A type of strong pincers or forceps.
- 3A kind of vise, usually of wood.
- 4A dollar.
- 5A Scientologist.
- 6A vagina or vulva.
- 7A wrong or misplaced note.
- 8One who clams up; a taciturn person, one who refuses to speak.
- 9mouth (Now found mostly in the expression shut one's clam)
Etymology
From Middle English clam (“pincers, vice, clamp”), from Old English clam (“bond, fetter, grip, grasp”), from Proto-West Germanic *klammjan (“press, squeeze together”). The sense “dollar” may allude to wampum. The sense "Scientologist" alludes to the Scientologist belief that human thetans (souls) previously inhabited clams.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cclam,clamm,cllam,clma,lcam
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of clam - 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 “clam”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-L-A-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /klæm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “CM” - see the side-by-side comparison. clam vs CM
- 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.