Which to use
“hourly” is an adjective and “hurl” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,043
- “hourly” frequency rank
- #32,438
- “hurl” frequency rank
- 43481
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hourly | hurl |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Occurring every hour. | To throw (something) with force. |
Where the eye mixes hourly and hurl
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hourly runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against hurl's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: hourly vs hurl
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hourly is /ˈaʊ̯əli/ while hurl is /hɜːl/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43481, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hourly is recorded at frequency rank #11,043, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈaʊ̯əli/. hurl is at rank #32,438, tagged as averb, pronounced /hɜːl/.
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 43481, this pair ranks #239,603 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hourly vs hurl
Shared letters: hlru. Private to "hourly": oy. Private to "hurl": -.
"hourly" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "hurl" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hourly" and "hurl" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "hourly" or "hurl" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hourly" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hurl" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #239,603 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hourly" and "hurl" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "HRW vs hurl". 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 #239,603 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.