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clipboard

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

9 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "clipboard", 9-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "clipboard" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "clipboard" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

clipboard is aEnglishnoun. It means: A flat piece of rigid material, such as card or plastic, with a clip at one end under which papers can be held. Often confused with cupboard.

Key facts for clipboard
PropertyValue
Headwordclipboard
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#33,182
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of clipboard in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for clipboard is 9 letters long, classified as anoun. Corpus data places it at rank #33,182 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 14 documented wrong-spelling variants for clipboard, with forms such as "cclipboard", "cilpboard", and "clibpoard". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "cupboard", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From clip + board. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is clipboard, spelled C-L-I-P-B-O-A-R-D, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A flat piece of rigid material, such as card or plastic, with a clip at one end under which papers can be held.
  2. 2
    A buffer in memory where the user can store data temporarily while transferring it from one place within an application to another or between applications.

Etymology

From clip + board.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: cclipboard,cilpboard,clibpoard,clipbaord,clipbboard,clipboadr,clipboardd,clipboarrd,clipborad,clipobard,clippboard,cllipboard,clpiboard,lcipboard

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for clipboard

Misspelling Variants of "clipboard"

cclipboard10cilpboard9clibpoard9clipbaord9clipbboard10clipboadr9clipboardd10clipboarrd10
Misspelling Variants of "clipboard"

Frequency rank: #33,182 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "clipboard"?
"clipboard" is spelled C-L-I-P-B-O-A-R-D.
What does "clipboard" mean?
As a noun, "clipboard" means: A flat piece of rigid material, such as card or plastic, with a clip at one end under which papers can be held.
What words are commonly confused with "clipboard"?
"clipboard" is commonly confused with "cupboard". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "clipboard"?
From clip + board. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.