hard of hearing

adj

"hard-of-hearing" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“hard of hearing” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Having difficulty hearing; somewhat deaf.

Corpus desk

Index EN-hard-of-hearing · hard of hearing · English

hard of hearing · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 15 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "H" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for hard of hearing
PropertyValue
Headwordhard of hearing
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “hard of hearing” sits in English frequency

hard of hearing falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

hard of hearing is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Having difficulty hearing; somewhat deaf.".

Zero misspellings are on record for hard of hearing in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is hard of hearing, spelled H-A-R-D- -O-F- -H-E-A-R-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    Having difficulty hearing; somewhat deaf.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "hard of hearing"?
"hard of hearing" is spelled H-A-R-D- -O-F- -H-E-A-R-I-N-G.
What does "hard of hearing" mean?
As an adjective, "hard of hearing" means: Having difficulty hearing; somewhat deaf.
What language does "hard of hearing" come from?
"hard of hearing" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list