Hoard or horde?
hoard is a noun meaning “A hidden supply or fund”; horde is a noun meaning “A wandering troop or gang; especially, a clan or tribe of a nomadic people…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) hoard is about as common as horde.
What is the difference between hoard and horde?
| hoard | horde | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun, verb |
| Meaning | A hidden supply or fund A cache of valuable objects or artefacts; a trove To amass, usually for one's own private collection | A wandering troop or gang; especially, a clan or tribe of a nomadic people (originally Tatars) migrating from place to place for the sake of pasturage… A large number of people or things To travel en masse; to flock |
| Example | a hoard of provisions; a hoard of money | We were beset by a horde of street vendors who thought we were tourists and would buy their cheap souvenirs |
| Forms | hoards | hordes |
| Pronunciation | /hɔɹd/ /hɔːd/ /ho(ː)ɹd/ | /hɔːd/ /hɔɹd/ /hoːd/ |
| In writing | 1.7 times per million words | 1.7 times per million words |
Sources: hoard and horde in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of hoard and horde
hoard
- 1
A hidden supply or fund
a hoard of provisions; a hoard of money
- 2
To amass, usually for one's own private collection
- 3
A hoarding (temporary structure used during construction)
- 4
A cache of valuable objects or artefacts; a trove
- 5
To save or reserve in one's mind for a future need or use
- 6
A projecting structure (especially of wood) in a fortification, somewhat similar to and later superseded by the brattice
- 7
A hoarding (billboard)
horde
- 1
A wandering troop or gang; especially, a clan or tribe of a nomadic people (originally Tatars) migrating from place to place for the sake of pasturage, plunder, etc.; a predatory multitude
- 2
To travel en masse; to flock
- 3
A large number of people or things
We were beset by a horde of street vendors who thought we were tourists and would buy their cheap souvenirs
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, hoard or horde?
hoard appears 1.7 times per million words; horde 1.7 times per million words.
hoard 1.7 times per million wordshorde 1.7 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search hoard vs horde?
“hoard vs horde” is searched about 2,400 times a month on Google and 130 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“horde vs hoard”, “hoard or horde”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.