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PlainSpell

clue

/kluː/noun, verb

clue is spelled C-L-U-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,309th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, clue means “Information which may lead one to a certain point or conclusion” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of clue is clues.

How many letters and syllables are in clue?

Letters4: C-L-U-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing15 times per million words; the 5,309th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
Same letters

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 clue?

Clue appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,309th 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 clue?

  • /kluː/
  • /kljuː/

Clue 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-au-clue.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with clue

Sounds like: clew, clou (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with clue?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as clue.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: luce.

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 clue

  • clues plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • cluing participle, present
  • clueing participle, present
  • clued participle, past

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

What does clue mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    archaicA strand of yarn etc. as used to guide one through a labyrinth; something which points the way, a guide.

  2. 2

    Information which may lead one to a certain point or conclusion.

    Give me a clue because the question is too vague.

  3. 3

    An object or a kind of indication which may be used as evidence.

    The detectives were looking for some clues at the scene of the crime.

  4. 4

    Insight or understanding ("to have a clue [about]" or "to have clue". See have a clue, clue stick)

    I had little clue that I was being carefully monitored by the CCTV.

  5. 5

    The text that indicates an answer in a crossword puzzle.

verb

  1. 1

    To provide with a clue.

    The crossword compiler wasn't sure how to clue the word "should".

  2. 2

    To provide someone with information which they lack (often used with "in" or "up").

    Smith, clue Jones in on what's been happening.

  3. 3

    Alternative form of clew.

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

Clue in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanHinweis (something which points the way, a guide), Anhaltspunkt, Faden (information that may lead one to a certain…), Indiz (object or marking that may be used in evidence), informieren, unterrichten (to provide with information)
Frenchindice (information that may lead one to a certain…), piste (object or marking that may be used in evidence), informer (to provide with information), idée (insight or understanding)
Portugueseindício, sugestão, pista (information that may lead one to a certain…)
Spanishpista, indicio (information that may lead one to a certain…)

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 clue come from?

Variant of clew (“a ball of thread or yarn”), from Middle English clew, clewe, clowe, clue, clwe, clyw, clywe, from Old English clēowen, clīewen, clīowen, clīwen, clȳwe, clȳwen (“ball, sphere; skein”), from Proto-West Germanic *kliuwīn (“ball, clump”), from Proto-Germanic *kliuwīną, *klewô (“bale, ball, clump, mass”), from Proto-Indo-European *glew- (“to ball up, clump together; lump, swelling”). Sense evolution with reference to the one which the mythical Theseus used to guide him out of the Minotaur's labyrinth. More at clew.

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

What to look up after clue