clever clogs

noun

"clever-clogs" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“clever clogs” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Somebody who is rather too clever; a smart aleck; sometimes used as an epithet.

Corpus desk

Index EN-clever-clogs · clever clogs · English

clever clogs · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "C" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for clever clogs
PropertyValue
Headwordclever clogs
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “clever clogs” in English

clever clogssits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

clever clogs is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Somebody who is rather too clever; a smart aleck; sometimes used as an epithet.".

No misspelling variants are generated for clever clogs in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is clever clogs, spelled C-L-E-V-E-R- -C-L-O-G-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Somebody who is rather too clever; a smart aleck; sometimes used as an epithet.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how clever clogs appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. 'Not in itself,' said the Doctor, holding the gun at arm's length. 'But you tell me, what happens if some clever clogs gets this in his lab? Finds out how it works? The human race gets the secret of Dalek weapons. You'll all be dead by Wednesday week.'
  2. 'All right then, clever-clogs,' said Yasmin. 'Any idea which one?'

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "clever clogs"?
"clever clogs" is spelled C-L-E-V-E-R- -C-L-O-G-S.
What does "clever clogs" mean?
As a noun, "clever clogs" means: Somebody who is rather too clever; a smart aleck; sometimes used as an epithet.
What language does "clever clogs" come from?
"clever clogs" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list