Hoard vs horde
Hoard and horde sound the same. A hoard is a hidden store of things, and to hoard is to collect and keep them. A horde is a large crowd.
Horde has an e, like herd: a big moving group. Hoard has an a, like stash: things you save and put away.
hoard noun
A supply of something, such as food or money, kept hidden away. As a verb, to collect and store a lot of something.
- After their grandmother died, they found a hoard of cash stuffed inside her mattress.
- Some collectors hoard rare coins for decades and never show them to anyone.
horde noun
A very large number of people or things, often a crowd on the move.
- Hordes of tourists descend on the village every August.
- A horde of reporters waited outside the courthouse.
Watch out
- Writing hoard for a big crowd is a misspelling. A crowd of fans is a horde.A horde of fans rushed the stage the moment the band walked out.
- In archaeology, a hoard is a group of valuable objects hidden together and found later.A farmer plowing his field uncovered a hoard of Roman silver coins.
Test yourself
The squirrel kept a blank of nuts under the old shed.
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hoard. This is a hidden store of food.
A blank of shoppers rushed through the doors when the sale began.
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horde. This is a large crowd of people.
People began to blank bottled water before the storm.
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hoard. To hoard is to collect and store up a lot of something.
A blank of reporters shouted questions as the senator left.
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horde. A large group of people is a horde.