cloud
/klaʊd/
"cloud" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cloud” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,219 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #3,219
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cloud |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /klaʊd/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #3,219 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cloud” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cloud is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /klaʊd/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,219 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for cloud, with forms such as "ccloud", "clloud", and "clodu". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "cod", "club", "cold", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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”). Cognate with… The correct English form is cloud, spelled C-L-O-U-D.
Definition
- 1A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air.
- 2Any mass of dust, steam or smoke resembling such a mass.
- 3Anything which makes things foggy or gloomy.
- 4Anything unsubstantial.
- 5A dark spot on a lighter material or background.
- 6A group or swarm, especially suspended above the ground or flying.
- 7An elliptical shape or symbol whose outline is a series of semicircles, supposed to resemble a cloud.
- 8A telecom network (from their representation in engineering drawings).
- 9The Internet, regarded as an abstract amorphous omnipresent space for processing and storage, the focus of cloud computing.
- 10A negative or foreboding aspect of something positive: see every cloud has a silver lining or every silver lining has a cloud.
- 11Crystal methamphetamine.
- 12A large, loosely-knitted headscarf worn by women.
- 13A white cat.
- 14A rock; boulder; a hill.
Etymology
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”). Cognate with Scots clood, clud (“cloud”), Dutch kluit (“lump, mass, clod”), German Low German Kluut, Kluute (“lump, mass, ball”), German Kloß (“lump, ball, dumpling”), Danish klode (“sphere, orb, planet”), Swedish klot (“sphere, orb, ball, globe”), Icelandic klót (“knob on a sword's hilt”). Related to English clod, clot, clump, club. Largely replaced Middle English wolken, from Old English wolcn (whence Modern English welkin), the commonest Germanic word (compare Dutch wolk, German Wolke).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccloud,clloud,clodu,cloudd,cluod,lcoud
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cloud - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
How do you spell "cloud"?
What does "cloud" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "cloud"?
How do you pronounce "cloud"?
What is the origin of the word "cloud"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “cloud”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-L-O-U-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /klaʊd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “cod” - see the side-by-side comparison. cloud vs cod
- 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.