cloaca
/kləʊˈeɪ.kə/
"cloaca" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cloaca” is an uncommon English word, ranked #78,478 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #78,478
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A sewer.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cloaca |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kləʊˈeɪ.kə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #78,478 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cloaca” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cloaca is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kləʊˈeɪ.kə/. Corpus data places it at rank #78,478 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for cloaca, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin cloāca (“sewer”), related to cluō (“cleanse; purge”), but the derivation is uncertain. The correct English form is cloaca, spelled C-L-O-A-C-A.
Definition
- 1A sewer.
- 2The opening in reptiles, amphibians and birds, as well as elasmobranchians, lobe-finned fishes, and monotreme mammals, which serves as the common outlet for the urogenital ducts and rectum.
- 3An outhouse or lavatory.
- 4A duct through which gangrenous material escapes a body.
- 5Structure in the embryo during the development of the reproductive and urinary systems.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin cloāca (“sewer”), related to cluō (“cleanse; purge”), but the derivation is uncertain.
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); 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
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Using “cloaca”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-L-O-A-C-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kləʊˈeɪ.kə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.