How to spell claw

hear itclaw/klɔ/nounLong vowels

What it means: A sharp, curved nail on an animal's foot.

In a sentence: The cat stretched out its paw to show its sharp claw.

The part people get wrong

Often misspelled as clow or clawh.

Same family: claws, clawed, clawing, claw-like, clawhammer. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: Claw comes from Old English "clawu," meaning a hook or talon. The word has been used for both animal feet and hooked tools for over a thousand years, which is why many modern tools copy the curved ‘claw’ shape.

Try spelling it

You will hear the word and a sentence. Type it and press Enter. Then four more words from the same level, so you know where you stand.

Words like this

paw · shawl · jaw · fawn · saw

Spelling.School is a spaced-repetition spelling practice: ten minutes a day, every word spoken aloud, every miss explained, and every word coming back just before you would forget it. Try five words without signing up.