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PlainSpell

clause

UK /klɔːz/noun, verb

clause is spelled C-L-A-U-S-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 9.8 times per million words in written English, the 7,224th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, clause means “A group of words that contains a subject and a verb; it may be part of a sentence or may constitute the whole sentence, depending on the syntax in…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of clause is clauses.

How many letters and syllables are in clause?

Letters6: C-L-A-U-S-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing9.8 times per million words; the 7,224th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is clause?

Clause appears 9.8 times per million words in written English, the 7,224th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce clause?

  • UK /klɔːz/
  • British /kloːz/
  • /klɔz/

Clause has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-pause.wav, En-us-clause.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with clause?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as clause from its last stressed vowel (/ɔz/, British pronunciation):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of clause

  • clauses plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • clausing participle, present
  • claused participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does clause mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A group of words that contains a subject and a verb; it may be part of a sentence or may constitute the whole sentence, depending on the syntax in each instance.

    Near-synonyms: sentential, sentence

  2. 2

    A verb, its necessary grammatical arguments, and any adjuncts affecting them.

  3. 3

    A verb along with its subject and their modifiers. If a clause provides a complete thought on its own, then it is an independent (superordinate) clause; otherwise, it is dependent (subordinate). (Independent clauses can be sentences; they can also be part of a sentence. Dependent clauses can only be part of a sentence.)

  4. 4

    A distinct part of a contract, a will or another legal document.

  5. 5

    A constituent (component) of a statement or query.

verb

  1. 1

    To amend (a bill of lading or similar document).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate clause?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of clause: cl..

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Clause in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchproposition (grammar: group of words which include a subject…), clause (legal: separate part of a contract)
GermanNebensatz (grammar: group of words which include a subject…), Klausel (legal: separate part of a contract), Teilsatz (grammar: verb along with a subject and modifiers)
Portugueseoração (grammar: group of words which include a subject…), cláusula, artigo (legal: separate part of a contract)
Spanishcláusula (legal: separate part of a contract)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does clause come from?

From Middle English clause, claus, borrowed from Old French clause, from Medieval Latin clausa (Latin diminutive clausula (“close, end; a clause, close of a period”)), from Latin clausus, past participle of claudere (“to shut, close”). See close, its doublet.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after clause