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PlainSpell

clock

/klɑk/noun, verb

clock is spelled C-L-O-C-K: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 27 times per million words in written English, the 3,422nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, clock means “A chronometer, an instrument that measures time, particularly the time of day” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of clock is clocks.

How many letters and syllables are in clock?

Letters5: C-L-O-C-K
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing27 times per million words; the 3,422nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is clock?

Clock appears 27 times per million words in written English, the 3,422nd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce clock?

  • UK /klɒk/
  • US /klɑk/
  • [kl̥ɒχ]

Clock has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-clock.ogg, En-us-clock.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with clock?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as clock from its last stressed vowel (/ɑk/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of clock

  • clocks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • clocking participle, present
  • clocked participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does clock mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A chronometer, an instrument that measures time, particularly the time of day.

    When the clock says midnight.

  2. 2

    A common noun relating to an instrument that measures or keeps track of time.

    A 12-hour clock system; an antique clock sale; Acme is a clock manufacturer.

  3. 3

    UKThe odometer of a motor vehicle.

    This car has over 300,000 miles on the clock.

  4. 4

    An electrical signal that synchronizes timing among digital circuits of semiconductor chips or modules.

  5. 5

    The seed head of a dandelion.

  6. 6

    A time clock.

    I can't go off to lunch yet: I'm still on the clock.

  7. 7

    informalA CPU clock cycle, or T-state.

  8. 8

    A luck-based patience or solitaire card game with the cards laid out to represent the face of a clock.

  9. 9

    A pattern near the heel of a sock or stocking.

  10. 10

    A large beetle, especially the European dung beetle (Geotrupes stercorarius).

verb

  1. 1

    To measure the duration of.

  2. 2

    To measure the speed of.

    He was clocked at 155 miles per hour.

  3. 3

    slangTo hit (someone) heavily.

    When the boxer let down his guard, his opponent clocked him.

  4. 4

    informalTo notice; to take notice of (someone or something).

    Clock the wheels on that car!

  5. 5

    informalTo recognize; to assess, register.

    I'd already clocked her as someone who couldn't reliably be believed when she spoke. And now this too!

  6. 6

    informalTo identify (someone) as having some attribute (for example, being trans or gay).

    Once my transition was complete I considered moving to London, where I felt there was less chance of being clocked and a larger support network.

  7. 7

    UKslangTo falsify the reading of the odometer of a vehicle.

    I don't believe that car has done only 40,000 miles. It's been clocked.

  8. 8

    AustraliaUKslangTo beat a video game.

    Have you clocked that game yet?

  9. 9

    To ornament (e.g. the side of a stocking) with figured work.

  10. 10

    ScotlanddatedTo make the sound of a hen; to cluck.

  11. 11

    ScotlanddatedTo hatch.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate clock?

Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of clock: CLK, clk.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Clock in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchhorloge (instrument to measure or keep track of time), indicateur de vitesse, compteur de vitesse (odometer)
GermanUhr, Ühra (instrument to measure or keep track of time), Tacho, Tachometer (odometer), Taktsignal (electrical signal)
Portugueserelógio (instrument to measure or keep track of time), velocímetro (odometer), cronometrar (measure the duration of), medir a velocidade de (measure the speed of), notar (slang: take notice of)
Spanishreloj (instrument to measure or keep track of time), cuentakilómetros (odometer), cronometrar (measure the duration of), medir la velocidad de (measure the speed of), golpear (slang: hit (someone))

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does clock come from?

First use appears c. 1370.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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