What is the difference between a hill and a mountain?

Land Features

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by Kate Simmons >> more about the author

We see them reaching toward the sky... They are majestic, and they add beauty to our world! They are hills and mountains, and without them, the earth’s surface would be a lot flatter! But what makes a hill a hill and a mountain a mountain?

While you may expect to hear that mountains are this tall or that high, not everyone agrees on exactly what makes a mountain, well—mountainous! But many people agree that a mountain is taller and steeper than a hill. In fact, mountains can become hills when water, wind and ice carry away pieces of the mountains, changing them into less steep, shorter landforms (hills)!

This wearing down of rock is called erosion, and it can also create mountains. So while it’s fun to think about how mountains and hills are different, you may ultimately discover they’re more alike than you ever imagined!

As you've just learned, hills and mountains can form in similar ways.

Besides being formed by erosion, mountains are created by changes in the outer layer of the Earth, which we call the crust. In fact, this crust is broken into large sections called plates, and when plates crash into one another, they can crumble or fold upward, making mountains! A buildup of ash and lava rock from repeat volcanoes can also form mountains.

Hills are created when wind or large chunks of moving ice called glaciers leave behind rock and sand that they’ve picked up along their path. Like mountains, hills are also formed by the buildup of volcanic ash and lava rock, by changes in the Earth’s crust, and of course, by erosion, to name a few.

It's fun to learn about these landforms that add so much to the Earth's surface!