All 3 Uses

cleave
in
The Thief, by Turner
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Growing out of a cleft in the stone above the cave, a fig tree shaded its opening.†
Chpt 5

cleft = a split or crack in something

"Editor's Notes"

Cleft is the past tense of cleave like left is past tense of leave.

Today, cleft is most seen in the form cleft palate or cleft lip to refer to medical conditions at birth.
At the back of it a squat tower defended a gate that closed off a cleft in the cliff face.†
Chpt 12
I dreamt of rock walls moving past on either side and heard in my sleep the crashing of the ponies' hooves as they climbed the stone roadway that ran up the cleft in the mountains, cut by the Aracthus before its path had changed.†
Chpt 12 *

Definitions:

(1) (cleave as in: cleave through)
to split or cut through something

Ironically, this word can mean to split in two or to hold together.

Note that you may see cleaved, cleft, clove, or cloven as the past tense of this sense of cleave.
(2) (cleave as in: cleave to)
to hold firmly to something -- such as an object, a person or idea

Ironically, this word can mean to split in two or to hold together.

Note that you may see cleaved, clove, or clave as the past tense of this sense of cleave.
(3) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
a proper noun or other word too rare to warrant focus