Putty vs. Clay — What's the Difference?

Putty is a material with high plasticity, similar in texture to clay or dough, typically used in domestic construction and repair as a sealant or filler. Although some types of putty (typically those using linseed oil) slowly polymerise and become stiff, many putties can be reworked indefinitely, in contrast to other types of filler which typically set solid relatively rapidly.

Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals. Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay particles, but become hard, brittle and non–plastic upon drying or firing.

A doughlike cement made by mixing whiting and linseed oil, used to fill holes in woodwork and secure panes of glass.

A stiff, sticky fine-grained earth that can be moulded when wet, and is dried and baked to make bricks, pottery, and ceramics

A substance with a similar consistency or function.

A European moth with yellowish-brown wings.

A fine lime cement used as a finishing coat on plaster.

A fine-grained, firm earthy material that is plastic when wet and hardens when heated, consisting primarily of hydrated silicates of aluminum and widely used in making bricks, tiles, and pottery.

A yellowish or light brownish gray to grayish yellow or light grayish brown.

A hardening or nonhardening material having a consistency similar to clay and used for modeling.

To fill, cover, or secure with putty.

(Geology) A sedimentary material with grains smaller than 0.002 millimeter in diameter.

A form of cement, made from linseed oil and whiting, used to fix panes of glass.

Moist sticky earth; mud.

Any of a range of similar substances.

The human body as opposed to the spirit.

An oxide of tin, or of lead and tin, used in polishing glass, etc.

A mineral substance made up of small crystals of silica and alumina, that is ductile when moist; the material of pre-fired ceramics.

A fine cement of lime only, used by plasterers.

An earth material with ductile qualities.

A golf ball made of composition and not gutta-percha.

(tennis) A tennis court surface made of crushed stone, brick, shale, or other unbound mineral aggregate.

Of, pertaining to, or resembling putty.

(biblical) The material of the human body.

(transitive) To fix or fill using putty.

(geology) A particle less than 3.9 microns in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.

A kind of thick paste or cement compounded of whiting, or soft carbonate of lime, and linseed oil, when applied beaten or kneaded to the consistence of dough, - used in fastening glass in sashes, stopping crevices, and for similar purposes.

A clay pipe for smoking tobacco.

A ball made of composition and not gutta percha.

A clay pigeon.

A kind of gaiter of waterproof cloth wrapped around the leg, used by soldiers, etc.

(informal) Land or territory of a country or other political region, especially when subject to territorial claims

To cement, or stop, with putty.

(transitive) To add clay to, to spread clay onto.

A dough-like mixture of whiting and boiled linseed oil; used especially to patch woodwork or secure panes of glass

To purify using clay.

Apply putty in order to fix or fill;

A soft earth, which is plastic, or may be molded with the hands, consisting of hydrous silicate of aluminium. It is the result of the wearing down and decomposition, in part, of rocks containing aluminous minerals, as granite. Lime, magnesia, oxide of iron, and other ingredients, are often present as impurities.

Earth in general, as representing the elementary particles of the human body; hence, the human body as formed from such particles.

To cover or manure with clay.

To clarify by filtering through clay, as sugar.

A very fine-grained soil that is plastic when moist but hard when fired

Water soaked soil; soft wet earth

United States general who commanded United States forces in Europe from 1945 to 1949 and who oversaw the Berlin airlift (1897-1978)

United States politician responsible for the Missouri Compromise between free and slave states (1777-1852)

The dead body of a human being