cley
noun
cley is spelled C-L-E-Y: 4 letters. It appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 107,757th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Cley, the name). As a noun, cley means “Alternative spelling of clay” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of cley is cleys.
How many letters and syllables are in cley?
| Letters | 4: C-L-E-Y |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 13 million words; the 107,757th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is cley?
Cley appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 107,757th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Cley, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Forms of cley
- cleys plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cley mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Alternative spelling of clay.
- 2
obsoleteA claw.
But that more heavy Birds are otherwise provided for defence, namely either by Spurs that grow on their Legs, or by the strength and sharpness of some single cley in their Foot; as I have observed in the Cassoware or Emeu
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does cley come from?
From Middle English cley, from Old English clǣġ (“clay”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).