# cleft

> English word · Noun · IPA /klɛft/ · frequency rank #31,109

## Definitions
1. An opening, fissure, or V-shaped indentation made by or as if by splitting.
2. A piece made by splitting.
3. A disease of horses; a crack on the band of the pastern.

## Etymology
From Middle English clift, from Old English ġeclyft, from Proto-West Germanic *klufti, from Proto-Germanic *kluftiz, equivalent to cleave + -t (“-th”). Compare Dutch klucht (“coarse comedy”), Swedish klyft (“cave, den”), German Kluft. See cleave.

## Easily confused with
- **clot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cleft-vs-clot)
- **clit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cleft-vs-clit)
- **Cleo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cleft-vs-cleo)
- **clem** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cleft-vs-clem)
- **craft** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cleft-vs-craft)
- **cliff** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cleft-vs-cliff)
- **clerk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cleft-vs-clerk)
- **crest** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cleft-vs-crest)
- **Clint** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cleft-vs-clint)
- **Clegg** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cleft-vs-clegg)
- **clout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cleft-vs-clout)
- **croft** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cleft-vs-croft)
- **crept** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cleft-vs-crept)
- **cleve** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cleft-vs-cleve)
- **client** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cleft-vs-client)
- **CET** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cet-vs-cleft)
- **cent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cent-vs-cleft)
- **chef** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/chef-vs-cleft)
- **cert** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cert-vs-cleft)
- **Chet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/chet-vs-cleft)

## Common misspellings (8)
`ccleft`, `celft`, `clefft`, `cleftt`, `cletf`, `clfet`, `clleft`, `lceft`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/cleft