Which to use
“hit” and “hurt” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #421
- “hit” frequency rank
- #1,224
- “hurt” frequency rank
- 1645
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hit | hurt |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To strike. | To cause (a person or animal) physical pain and/or injury. |
Where the eye mixes hit and hurt
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: hit vs hurt
A purely visual mix-up. hit (/hɪt/) and hurt (/hɜːt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1645, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hit is recorded at frequency rank #421, classified as averb, pronounced /hɪt/. hurt is at rank #1,224, tagged as averb, pronounced /hɜːt/.
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 1645, this pair ranks #526,986 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hit vs hurt
Shared letters: ht. Private to "hit": i. Private to "hurt": ru.
"hit" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hurt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- hurt ← hhurt · hrut · hurrt · hurtt · hutr · uhrt
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hit" for "hurt" ever safe?
Which is more common, "hit" or "hurt"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hurt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #526,986 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hit" and "hurt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "HIIT vs hurt". 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 #526,986 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.