heroesvshordesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“heroes” and “hordes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#22,582
“heroes” frequency rank
#23,887
“hordes” frequency rank
46469
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature heroes hordes
Definition Pluriel de hero. Pluriel de horde.

Where the eye mixes heroes and hordes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. heroes (CVCVVC) and hordes (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
heroes
6 ch
hordes

Look-alike desk: heroes vs hordes

A purely visual mix-up. heroes (\ˈhɪɹ.oʊz\) and hordes (^((h aspiré))\ɔʁd\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46469, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

heroes is recorded at frequency rank #22,582, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈhɪɹ.oʊz\. hordes is at rank #23,887, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɔʁd\.

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 46469, this pair ranks #194,686 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of heroes vs hordes

Shared letters: ehors. Private to "heroes": -. Private to "hordes": d.

"heroes" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "hordes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heroesehroes · heores · hereos · heroess · herose · herroes · hheroes · hreoes
  • hordeshhordes · hodres · horddes · hordess · hordse · horeds · horrdes · ohrdes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "heroes" and "hordes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ˈhɪɹ.oʊz\ versus ^((h aspiré))\ɔʁd\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "heroes" or "hordes"?
"heroes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,582 in our French list, against #23,887 for "hordes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "heroes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hordes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #194,686 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "heroes" and "hordes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hordes vs hornet". 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 #194,686 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list