Which to use
“hurling” and “hurtling” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,192
- “hurling” frequency rank
- #49,409
- “hurtling” frequency rank
- 73601
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hurling | hurtling |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act by which something is hurled or thrown. | The act of something being hurtled or thrown. |
Letter map: hurling vs hurtling
Shared letters muted; letters that set hurling and hurtling apart highlighted. Shared run: 7. hurling runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against hurtling's 8 (CVCCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Spelling & dictionary notes on hurling vs hurtling
hurling and hurtling 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 73601, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hurling is recorded at frequency rank #24,192, classified as anoun. hurtling is at rank #49,409, 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 73601, this pair ranks #39,091 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hurling vs hurtling
Shared letters: ghilnru. Private to "hurling": -. Private to "hurtling": t.
"hurling" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "hurtling" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hurling" for "hurtling" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "hurling" or "hurtling" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pair "hurling" vs "hurtling" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "hurling" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hurtling" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #39,091 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hurling" and "hurtling" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hurrying vs hurtling". 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 #39,091 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.