huddlevshurdlesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“huddle” and “hurdles” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#26,119
“huddle” frequency rank
#14,138
“hurdles” frequency rank
40257
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature huddle hurdles
Definition A dense and disorderly crowd. A sport where athletes or animals run along a track obstructed by regularly placed hurdles that must be leapt over.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set huddle and hurdles apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
huddle
7 ch
hurdles

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

huddle and hurdles are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40257, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

huddle is recorded at frequency rank #26,119, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhʌdəl/. hurdles is at rank #14,138, 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 40257, this pair ranks #269,203 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of huddle vs hurdles

Shared letters: dehlu. Private to "huddle": -. Private to "hurdles": rs.

"huddle" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "hurdles" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • huddlehdudle · hhuddle · huddel · huddlle · hudlde · hudle · uhddle
  • hurdleshhurdles · hrudles · hudrles · hurddles · hurdels · hurdless · hurdlles · hurdlse

Frequency comparison

huddle#26,119
hurdles#14,138

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "huddle" and "hurdles" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "huddle" or "hurdles"?
"hurdles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,138 in our English list, against #26,119 for "huddle". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering huddle vs hurdles

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “huddle” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list