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PlainSpell

closet

/ˈklɑzɪt/noun, adjective, verb

closet is spelled C-L-O-S-E-T: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,778th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, closet means “A small room within a house used to store clothing, food, or other household supplies” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of closet is closets.

How many letters and syllables are in closet?

Letters6: C-L-O-S-E-T
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing13 times per million words; the 5,778th 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 closet?

Closet appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,778th 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 closet?

  • UK /ˈklɒzɪt/
  • US /ˈklɑzɪt/

Closet has 2 syllables (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-closet.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with closet?

3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as closet from its last stressed vowel (/ɑzɪt/):

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 closet

  • closets plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • closeting participle, present
  • closeted participle, past

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

What does closet mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A small room within a house used to store clothing, food, or other household supplies.

  2. 2

    obsoleteAny private space, (particularly) bowers in the open air.

  3. 3

    archaicAny private or inner room, (particularly)

  4. 4

    archaicobsoleteA private room used by women to groom and dress themselves.

  5. 5

    archaicA private room used for prayer or other devotions.

  6. 6

    archaicA place of (usually, fanciful) contemplation and theorizing.

  7. 7

    archaicThe private residence or private council chamber of a monarch.

  8. 8

    obsoleteA pew or side-chapel reserved for a monarch or other feudal lord.

    Chaplayneȝ to þe chapeles chosen þe gate... / Þe lorde loutes þerto, & þe lady als, / In-to a comly closet coyntly ho entreȝ.

adjective

  1. 1

    obsoletePrivate.

  2. 2

    Closeted, secret (especially with reference to gay people who are in the closet).

    He's a closet case.

  3. 3

    Denoting anything kept a secret or private.

verb

  1. 1

    To shut away for private discussion.

    The ambassador has been closeted with the prime minister all afternoon. We're all worried what will be announced when they exit.

  2. 2

    To put into a private place for a secret interview or interrogation.

  3. 3

    To shut up in, or as in, a closet for concealment or confinement.

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

Closet in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchplacard (furniture)
GermanSchrank, Wandschrank (furniture), Kammer, Abstellkammer, Ankleide, Käfter (small private chamber)
Portugueseguarda-roupas, armário (furniture)
Spanishropero, armario, clóset, placar, placard, cachimán (furniture)

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 closet come from?

From Middle English closet, from Old French closet, from clos (“private space”) + -et (diminutive suffix), from Latin clausum. Equivalent to close + -et, but generally applied in French solely to small open-air enclosures.

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

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