Cloth is fabric made by weaving or knitting threads together. When you look closely at a piece of cloth, you can often see how individual threads crisscross over and under each other, or loop together in a pattern. Your clothes, bedsheets, towels, and even many book covers are made from cloth.

People have been making cloth for thousands of years, starting with natural materials like wool from sheep, cotton from plants, silk from silkworms, and linen from flax. Today, cloth can also be made from synthetic materials like polyester. Different types of cloth have different purposes: canvas is thick and sturdy for painting or making tents, velvet is soft and luxurious for fancy clothes or curtains, and denim is tough enough for jeans that can handle playground adventures.

A tablecloth covers and protects a table. A washcloth is a small square of soft cloth for washing. When something is described as being cut from the same cloth, it means two things or people are very similar, like they came from the same piece of fabric. The phrase out of whole cloth means something was completely made up or invented, with no basis in truth.