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PlainSpell

clump

/klʌmp/noun, verb

clump is spelled C-L-U-M-P: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 31,168th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, clump means “A cluster or lump; an unshaped piece or mass” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of clump is clumps.

How many letters and syllables are in clump?

Letters5: C-L-U-M-P
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 1 million words; the 31,168th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is clump?

Clump appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 31,168th 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 clump?

  • /klʌmp/

Clump 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-us-clump.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of clump

  • clumps plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • clumping participle, present
  • clumped participle, past

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

What does clump mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A cluster or lump; an unshaped piece or mass.

  2. 2

    A thick group or bunch, especially of bushes or hair.

  3. 3

    A small group of trees or other plants growing together.

  4. 4

    A dull thud.

  5. 5

    The compressed clay of coal strata.

  6. 6

    A thick addition to the sole of a shoe.

verb

  1. 1

    To form clusters or lumps.

  2. 2

    To gather in dense groups.

  3. 3

    To walk with heavy footfalls.

  4. 4

    UKTo strike; to beat.

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

Clump in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchamas (cluster), touffe (thick group), massif (a small group of trees or plants)
GermanKlumpen (cluster), Büschel (thick group), Plumps (dull thud), trappen, trapsen (walk with heavy footfalls)
Portugueseagrupamento, amontoado, amontoados pl or, montoeira sg or, montoeiras pl or, montão (cluster)
Spanishgrumo (cluster), matorral, mechón (thick group), plop (dull thud), marchar (walk with heavy footfalls), amontonar (form a cluster)

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 clump come from?

From Middle English clompe, from Old English clymppe, a variant of clympre (“a lump or mass of metal”), from Proto-Germanic *klumpô (“mass, lump, clump; clasp”), from Proto-Indo-European *glembʰ- (“lump, clamp”). Alternatively, possibly from Middle Dutch clompe or Middle Low German klumpe (compare German Klumpen). Doublet of klomp.

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

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