Hoard and Horde

This week, Ms. Picky is going to discuss another set of fraternal twins—two words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have completely different meanings—hoard and horde.

Hoard:

The verb hoard means to collect or amass a large quantity of things, often (but not always, as will be seen below) money or food, against some perceived future shortage.

The noun hoard means the collection of things that one has amassed.

(In the 1940s, the bodies of Homer Lusk Collyer and Langley Collyer were discovered in their brownstone in Manhattan, amid a collection of more than 130 tons of newspapers, magazines, books, musical instruments, and various other trash. Since that time, hardly a reference is made to “disposophobia,” or hoarding, without mentioning the Collyer brothers’ name.)

Example:

The squirrel hoarded up acorns ahead of the oncoming winter.

He may have been the CEO of a major corporation, but he still had a secret hoard of old baseball cards in a closet in his apartment.

Horde:

The noun horde means a large group of people (or sometimes insects or animals), usually nomadic. In many instances, the word is used to indicate an unruly and aggressive group of invaders.

Example:

Attila the Hun and his hordes overran much of the Roman Empire, Constantinople, and Gaul.

Mnemonic Device: She hoards boat oars: oa for boat and oar, and oa for hoard.

Next week’s post: That and Which