clause
/klɔːz/
"clause" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“clause” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,205 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,205
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - 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.
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 | clause |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /klɔːz/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #7,205 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “clause” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for clause is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /klɔːz/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,205 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for clause, with forms such as "caluse", "cclause", and "clasue". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "clue", "close", "claws", 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 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. The correct English form is clause, spelled C-L-A-U-S-E.
Definition
- 1A 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.
- 2A verb, its necessary grammatical arguments, and any adjuncts affecting them.
- 3A 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.)
- 4A distinct part of a contract, a will or another legal document.
- 5A constituent (component) of a statement or query.
Etymology
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.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: caluse,cclause,clasue,claues,clausse,cllause,cluase,lcause
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of clause - 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
How do you spell "clause"?
What does "clause" mean?
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Using “clause”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-L-A-U-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /klɔːz/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “clue” - see the side-by-side comparison. clause vs clue
- 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.