How to pronounce cleft
Say it like KLEFT. Cleft is a single syllable, so the whole word carries the stress.
Click the play button next to American or British to hear how to pronounce cleft. Choose Slow to hear each sound clearly.
- KLEFT
- Main stress
- Lighter stress
- Unstressed
Cleft pronunciation, sound by sound
Read the parts left to right, then blend them together without pausing.
- KLEFTSay this part loudest and longest. The vowel is the "e" in bed.
American vs British pronunciation of cleft
American and British speakers say cleft in essentially the same way: /klɛft/ in the US and /klɛft/ in the UK.
British respelling: KLEFT.
What does cleft mean?
- An opening, fissure, or V-shaped indentation made by or as if by splitting.“The river flows through a cleft in the mountains.”
- A piece made by splitting.“a cleft of wood”
- A disease of horses; a crack on the band of the pastern.
- To syntactically separate a prominent constituent from the rest of the clause that concerns it, such as threat in "The threat which I saw but which he didn't see, was his downfall."
- simple past and past participle of cleave How to pronounce cleave
Where does cleft come from?
From Middle English clift, from Old English ġeclyft, from Proto-West Germanic *klufti, from Proto-Germanic *kluftiz, equivalent to cleave + -t (“-th”).
Words that rhyme with cleft
Practicing rhymes is a quick way to lock in the vowel sound of cleft.
Questions about saying cleft
How do you pronounce cleft?
Say KLEFT. The American pronunciation is /klɛft/. In British English it is /klɛft/. Press play above to hear it at normal speed or slowly.
How many syllables are in cleft?
Cleft is a single syllable, so the whole word carries the stress. Broken into parts: KLEFT.
Do Americans and Brits say cleft the same way?
Almost exactly. The American form is /klɛft/ and the British form is /klɛft/, so you can use either pronunciation with any listener.