clam

\klam\

/\klam\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“clam” is uncommon French (frequency #76,430 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#76,430
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Nom vernaculaire de plusieurs espèces de mollusques bivalves comestibles.

Corpus desk

Index FR-clam · clam · French

clam · rank #76,430 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #76,430
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH clairette

Nearest frequency peer: clairette (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « clam »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « clam » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for clam
PropertyValue
Headwordclam
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\klam\
Letters4
Frequency rank#76,430
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « clam » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.clamtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « clairette » (#76,429), « cinétiques » (#76,427), « clignement » (#76,433). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « clam » est au #76,430. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

clam is uncommon French at frequency #76,430 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \klam\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Nom vernaculaire de plusieurs espèces de mollusques bivalves comestibles.".

clam has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is clam, spelled C-L-A-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    Nom vernaculaire de plusieurs espèces de mollusques bivalves comestibles.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how clam appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Un clam, a repris Morgan, est un mollusque.
  2. La serveuse, une étudiante qui s'était prise d'affection pour Miles, lui avait appris à déguster les clams à l'estouffade, qu'on leur amenait dans des paniers de treillis avec deux saucières.

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "clam"?
"clam" is spelled C-L-A-M. The IPA pronunciation is \klam\.
What does "clam" mean?
As a noun, "clam" means: Nom vernaculaire de plusieurs espèces de mollusques bivalves comestibles.
How do you pronounce "clam"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "clam" is \klam\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "clam" come from?
"clam" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "clam", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

coil#76,441cups#76,474Dalo#76,481dish#76,493

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list