Which to use
“hurdle” is a noun and “hurled” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,938
- “hurdle” frequency rank
- #26,121
- “hurled” frequency rank
- 43059
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hurdle | hurled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An artificial barrier, variously constructed, over which athletes or horses jump in a race. | simple past and past participle of hurl |
Where the eye mixes hurdle and hurled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. hurdle (CVCCCV) and hurled (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses hurdle with hurled
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hurdle is /ˈhɜːdl̩/ while hurled is /hɜːld/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43059, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hurdle is recorded at frequency rank #16,938, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɜːdl̩/. hurled is at rank #26,121, tagged as averb, pronounced /hɜːld/.
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 43059, this pair ranks #243,596 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hurdle vs hurled
Shared letters: dehlru. Private to "hurdle": -. Private to "hurled": -.
"hurdle" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "hurled" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hurdle" and "hurled" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "hurdle" vs "hurled" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hurdle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hurled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #243,596 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hurdle" and "hurled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hued vs hurled". 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 #243,596 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.