clays

/kleɪz/

//kleɪz// noun

"clays" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“clays” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #37,382. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#37,382
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - plural of clay

Corpus desk

Index EN-clays · clays · English

clays · rank #37,382 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #37,382
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH Citibank

Nearest frequency peer: Citibank (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “clays”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “clays” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

clays vs cray
60% similar
clays vs Clos
40% similar
clays vs clubs
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for clays
PropertyValue
Headwordclays
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/kleɪz/
Letters5
Frequency rank#37,382
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “clays”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).clayslands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “Citibank” (#37,381), “chromatin” (#37,380), “chloroform” (#37,379). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “clays” is #37,382. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around clays (IPA /kleɪz/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #37,382 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Dominant gloss: "plural of clay".

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for clays, with forms such as "calys", "cclays", and "clayss". 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, "cray", "Clos", "clubs", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is clays, spelled C-L-A-Y-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    plural of clay

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • calys
  • cclays
  • clayss
  • clayys
  • cllays
  • clyas
  • lcays

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of clays - 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.

calys2cclays1clayss1clayys1cllays1clyas2lcays2
Edit distance from "clays"

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 "clays"?
"clays" is spelled C-L-A-Y-S. The IPA pronunciation is /kleɪz/.
What does "clays" mean?
As a noun, "clays" means: plural of clay
What words are commonly confused with "clays"?
"clays" is commonly confused with "cray", "Clos", "clubs". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "clays"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "clays" is /kleɪz/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "clays" come from?
"clays" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 English words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list