Which to use
“hurled” is a verb and “hurried” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,121
- “hurled” frequency rank
- #24,193
- “hurried” frequency rank
- 50314
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hurled | hurried |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of hurl | Done in a hurry; rushed. |
Where the eye mixes hurled and hurried
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. hurled runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against hurried's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: hurled vs hurried
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hurled is /hɜːld/ while hurried is /ˈhʌɹ.id/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50314, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hurled is recorded at frequency rank #26,121, classified as averb, pronounced /hɜːld/. hurried is at rank #24,193, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈhʌɹ.id/.
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 50314, this pair ranks #175,426 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hurled vs hurried
Shared letters: dehru. Private to "hurled": l. Private to "hurried": i.
"hurled" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hurried" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hurled" for "hurried" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "hurled" or "hurried" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hurled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hurried" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #175,426 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hurled" and "hurried" 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 #175,426 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.