Skip to main content
PlainSpell

cloud

/ˈklaʊ̯d/noun, verb

cloud is spelled C-L-O-U-D: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 29 times per million words in written English, the 3,218th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, cloud means “A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of cloud is clouds.

How many letters and syllables are in cloud?

Letters5: C-L-O-U-D
Syllables1
In writing29 times per million words; the 3,218th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 cloud?

Cloud appears 29 times per million words in written English, the 3,218th 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 cloud?

  • US /ˈklaʊ̯d/
  • US [ˈkʰl̥aʊ̯d]
  • /ˈklæʊ̯d/

Cloud has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-cloud.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-cloud.wav, En-uk-cloud.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with cloud?

5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as cloud from its last stressed vowel (/aʊd/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: could.

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 cloud

  • clouds plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • cloude
  • clowd
  • clouding participle, present
  • clouded participle, past

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

What does cloud mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air.

  2. 2

    Any mass of dust, steam or smoke resembling such a mass.

  3. 3

    Anything reminiscent of a cloud.

    The ship moved forward under a cloud of sail.

  4. 4

    Anything which makes things foggy, unclear or gloomy.

  5. 5

    Anything unsubstantial.

  6. 6

    A dark spot on a lighter material or background.

  7. 7

    A group or swarm of insects, various animals or people, especially when flying.

    He opened the door and was greeted by a cloud of bats.

  8. 8

    An elliptical shape or symbol whose outline is a series of semicircles, supposed to resemble a cloud.

    The comic-book character's thoughts appeared in a cloud above his head.

verb

  1. 1

    To become foggy or gloomy, or obscured from sight.

    The glass clouds when you breathe on it.

  2. 2

    To overspread or hide with a cloud or clouds.

    The sky is clouded.

  3. 3

    Of the breath, to become cloud; to turn into mist.

  4. 4

    To make obscure.

    All this talk about human rights is clouding the real issue.

  5. 5

    To make less acute or perceptive.

    Your emotions are clouding your judgement.

  6. 6

    To make gloomy or sullen.

  7. 7

    To blacken; to sully; to stain; to tarnish (reputation or character).

  8. 8

    To mark with, or darken in, veins or sports; to variegate with colors.

    to cloud yarn

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

Cloud in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchnuage (visible mass of water droplets suspended in the…), cloud (the Internet), s'obscurcir (to become foggy or gloomy, to become obscured…)
GermanWolke, Gewölk, Wulche, Woikn (visible mass of water droplets suspended in the…), Schleier (anything which makes things foggy or gloomy), verschleiern (to make obscure (e.g. to cloud the issue))
Portuguesenuvem, nimbo (visible mass of water droplets suspended in the…), cloud (the Internet), enevoar (to become foggy or gloomy, to become obscured…), obscurecer (to make obscure (e.g. to cloud the issue))
Spanishnube, nimbo, celaje, celajería (visible mass of water droplets suspended in the…), nublar (to become foggy or gloomy, to become obscured…)

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 cloud come from?

From Middle English cloud, from Old English clūd (“mass of stone, rock, boulder, hill”), from Proto-West Germanic *klūt, from Proto-Germanic *klūtaz, *klutaz (“lump, mass, conglomeration”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up, clench”).

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

What to look up after cloud