Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell clown

hear itclown/klaʊn/nounSounds

What it means: A performer who wears funny clothes and makes people laugh.

In a sentence: The clown made everyone laugh at the circus.

The part people get wrong

Often misspelled as clowne or clowen.

Same family: clowning, clowned, clownish, clowning-around, clown-like. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: The word “clown” first appeared in English in the 1500s meaning a rude or clumsy country person, and only later came to mean a comic performer. Using “clown” as a verb, meaning to act silly or like a clown, developed much more recently in informal English.

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