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PlainSpell

clog

/klɑɡ/noun, verb

clog is spelled C-L-O-G: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,270th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, clog means “A type of shoe with an inflexible, often wooden sole sometimes with an open heel” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of clog is clogs.

How many letters and syllables are in clog?

Letters4: C-L-O-G
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 1 million words; the 29,270th 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 clog?

Clog appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,270th 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 clog?

  • UK /klɒɡ/
  • US /klɑɡ/
  • US /klɔɡ/

Clog 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-clog.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-clog.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with clog?

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

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 clog

  • clogs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • clogging participle, present
  • clogged participle, past

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

What does clog mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A type of shoe with an inflexible, often wooden sole sometimes with an open heel.

    Dutch people rarely wear clogs these days.

  2. 2

    A blockage.

    The plumber cleared the clog from the drain.

  3. 3

    UKcolloquialA shoe of any type.

  4. 4

    A weight, such as a log or block of wood, attached to a person or animal to hinder motion.

  5. 5

    That which hinders or impedes motion; an encumbrance, restraint, or impediment of any kind.

verb

  1. 1

    To block or slow passage through (often with 'up').

    Hair is clogging the drainpipe.

  2. 2

    To encumber or load, especially with something that impedes motion; to hamper.

  3. 3

    To burden; to trammel; to embarrass; to perplex.

  4. 4

    To enforce a mortgage lender right that prevents a borrower from exercising a right to redeem.

  5. 5

    To perform a clog dance.

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

Clog in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsabot (a type of shoe with an inflexible, often wooden…), bouchon (a blockage), boucher (to block or slow passage through)
GermanHolzschuh, Holzpantoffel, Pantine (a type of shoe with an inflexible, often wooden…), hemmen, verstopfen (a blockage), Klotz (an encumbrance or impediment)
Portuguesetamanco (a type of shoe with an inflexible, often wooden…), obstrução, bloqueio, entupimento (a blockage), entupir, obstruir (to block or slow passage through)
Spanishzueco (a type of shoe with an inflexible, often wooden…), azolve, azolvamiento, asolvamiento (a blockage), obstruir, azolvar (to block or slow passage through)

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 clog come from?

Unknown; perhaps from Middle English clog (“weight attached to the leg of an animal to impede movement”). Perhaps of North Germanic origin and derived from Proto-Germanic *klumpô (“lump, mass, clasp”); compare Old Norse klugu, klogo (“knotty tree log”), Dutch klomp.

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

What to look up after clog