horsvshurtWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hors is a preposition, hurt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hors” is a preposition and “hurt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#688
“hors” frequency rank
#47,383
“hurt” frequency rank
48071
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hors hurt
Definition Préposition servant à marquer l’exclusion du lieu. Blesser, endolorir, faire du mal.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hors and hurt apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
hors
4 ch
hurt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

hors and hurt form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48071, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hors is recorded at frequency rank #688, classified as aprep, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɔʁ\. hurt is at rank #47,383, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈhɝt\.

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 48071, this pair ranks #181,898 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Frequency comparison

hors#688
hurt#47,383

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hors" and "hurt" be used interchangeably?
No, "hors" and "hurt" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering hors vs hurt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a preposition, it's “hors”; for a verb, it's “hurt”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hors” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list