Clam vs. Oyster — What's the Difference?

Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds.

Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape.

A marine bivalve mollusc with shells of equal size.

Any of several edible bivalve mollusks of the family Ostreidae, having a rough, irregularly shaped shell attached to the substrate in shallow marine waters. Oysters are widely cultivated for food.

A dollar.

Any of various similar or related bivalve mollusks, such as the pearl oyster.

Dig for or collect clams

An edible bit of muscle found in the hollow of the pelvic bone of a fowl.

Abruptly stop talking

A special delicacy.

Any of various usually burrowing marine and freshwater bivalve mollusks chiefly of the subclass Heterodonta, including members of the families Veneridae and Myidae, many of which are edible.

Something from which benefits may be extracted.

The soft edible body of such a mollusk.

(Slang) A close-mouthed person.

(Informal) A close-mouthed person, especially one who can keep a secret.

To gather, dredge for, or raise oysters.

(Slang) A dollar

Any of certain marine bivalve mollusks, especially those of the family Ostreidae (the true oysters), usually found adhering to rocks or other fixed objects in shallow water along the seacoasts, or in brackish water in the mouth of rivers.

A clamp or vise.

The delicate morsel of dark meat contained in a small cavity of the bone on each side of the lower part of the back of a fowl.

To hunt for clams.

A pale beige color tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster.

A bivalve mollusk of many kinds, especially those that are edible; for example pl=s (Mya arenaria), hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria), sea clams or hen clam (Spisula solidissima), and other species. The name is said to have been given originally to the Tridacna gigas, a huge East Indian bivalve.

A person who keeps secrets.

Strong pincers or forceps.

A shoplifter.

A kind of vise, usually of wood.

Of a pale beige colour tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster.

A dollar.

(intransitive) To fish for oysters.

A Scientologist.

Any marine bivalve mollusk of the genus Ostrea. They are usually found adhering to rocks or other fixed objects in shallow water along the seacoasts, or in brackish water in the mouth of rivers. The common European oyster (Ostrea edulis), and the American oyster (Ostrea Virginiana), are the most important species.

A vagina.

A name popularly given to the delicate morsel contained in a small cavity of the bone on each side of the lower part of the back of a fowl.

(slang) In musicians' parlance, a wrong or misplaced note.

Marine mollusks having a rough irregular shell; found on the sea bed mostly in coastal waters

(informal) One who clams up; a taciturn person, one who refuses to speak.

Edible body of any of numerous oysters

Mouth (Now found mostly in the expression shut one's clam)

A small muscle on each side of the back of a fowl

Clamminess; moisture

Gather oysters, dig oysters

To dig for clams.

To produce, in bellringing, a clam or clangor; to cause to clang.

To be moist or glutinous; to stick; to adhere.

To clog, as with glutinous or viscous matter.

Clammy.

A bivalve mollusk of many kinds, especially those that are edible; as, the long clam (Mya arenaria), the quahog or round clam (Venus mercenaria), the sea clam or hen clam (Spisula solidissima), and other species of the United States. The name is said to have been given originally to the Tridacna gigas, a huge East Indian bivalve.

Strong pinchers or forceps.

A kind of vise, usually of wood.

Claminess; moisture.

A crash or clangor made by ringing all the bells of a chime at once.

To clog, as with glutinous or viscous matter.

To be moist or glutinous; to stick; to adhere.

To produce, in bell ringing, a clam or clangor; to cause to clang.

Burrowing marine mollusk living on sand or mud

A piece of paper money worth one dollar

Flesh of either hard-shell or soft-shell clams

Gather clams, by digging in the sand by the ocean