• 2-minute read
• 3rd May 2016

Word Choice: Hoard vs. Horde

Homophones are words that sound alike when spoken, but have different meanings. To make life even more confusing, many homophones are spelled differently too. Like ‘hoard’ and ‘horde’.

If English isn’t your first language, it’s easy to mix these terms up. With a little effort, however, it’s also easy to avoid unfortunate mistakes in your work.

Hoard (To Store or Stockpile)

The word ‘hoard’ can be used as either a noun or a verb, but in both cases refers to stockpiling something valuable. As a noun, ‘hoard’ refers to the stockpile itself, such as the dragon’s ‘hoard’ in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit:

Tolkien depicts Smaug sat atop a hoard of gold.

As a verb, ‘hoard’ refers to the act of collecting or stockpiling something:

In fantasy fiction, it is common for dragons to hoard gold or treasure.

Thus, ‘hoard’ always refers to a valuable collection, usually hidden or guarded for future use.

Horde (A Group or Crowd)

‘Horde’, meanwhile, is primarily used as a noun meaning ‘a large group’ of people or animals. And since we’ve started with the Tolkien examples, we might as well continue:

In The Lord of the Rings, Sam and Frodo face hordes of goblins.

Usually, the term ‘horde’ is saved for a bustling crowd or swarm. For example, while you might say ‘a horde of flies invaded our barbecue’, it would be unusual to call a flock of woolly animals standing around quietly in a field a ‘horde of sheep’.

Another thing to keep in mind is that ‘horde’ is sometimes used by anthropologists and historians to refer to particular nomadic groups or tribes. However, unless you’re studying these groups, the general sense of ‘crowd’ is usually applicable.

Hoard or Horde?

As you can see, these words have very different meanings. Yet mistakes are common, such as this Daily Mail headline, which mentions ‘hoards of screaming people’. In this context, the word ‘hoard’ implies that someone, somewhere is stockpiling screaming humans for use by Karl Stefanovic.

This is clearly a disturbing thought, so remember:

Hoard (noun) = A collection or stockpile

Hoard (verb) = To collect or stockpile

Horde (noun) = A large group of people