hailingvshurlingTell them apart

Quick tell: hailing is a verb, hurling is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hailing” is a verb and “hurling” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,853
“hailing” frequency rank
#24,192
“hurling” frequency rank
48045
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hailing hurling
Definition present participle and gerund of hail The act by which something is hurled or thrown.

Letter map: hailing vs hurling

Shared letters muted; letters that set hailing and hurling apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

7 ch
hailing
7 ch
hurling

Grammar separator: hailing vs hurling

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hailing is averb and hurlinganoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48045, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hailing is recorded at frequency rank #23,853, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈheɪlɪŋ/. hurling is at rank #24,192, tagged as anoun.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 48045, this pair ranks #196,835 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hailing vs hurling

Shared letters: ghiln. Private to "hailing": a. Private to "hurling": ru.

"hailing" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC  ·  "hurling" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hailingahiling · haiilng · hailign · hailingg · hailinng · hailling · hailnig · haliing
  • hurlinghhurling · hruling · hulring · hurilng · hurlign · hurlingg · hurlinng · hurlling

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hailing" and "hurling" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hailing" is a verb and "hurling" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hailing" vs "hurling" - which ranks higher?
"hailing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,853 in our English list, against #24,192 for "hurling". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "hailing" vs "hurling" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hailing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hurling" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #196,835 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hailing" and "hurling" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hurling vs hurtling". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #196,835 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list