to be totally confused about rooves and roofs?

[lessonsintightropes]

Or hooves and hoofs?

I don't know the rule and despite my fairly good comp secondary education, can't understand this.

Can any better-educated brethren shed light?

This is why I say rooftops :o

I am so glad it's not just a weird me thing! Thanks everyone, roofs and hooves it is

This confuses me. I didnt know it did,but now I do.

No such word as rooves. Tis roofs.

But the plural of hoof is hooves.

That's English for you. No set rules (I before E except after C - nope, wrong, not always)

The plural of roof is roofs, same with hoof; these are exceptions to the rule, designed in about 357 AD, for the sole purpose of catching out English teachers and confirming OFSTED's darkest suspicions.

did I hear hooves on my roof?

Roofs.

Rooves is perfectly acceptable in many dialects (so it's acceptable everywhere in English I'd say), it's much less common than roofs certainly. But the OED has quotations from Orwell and others.

Hooves is also perfectly acceptable, just less common than hoofs.

If you're writing for a particular audience that is full of grammar pedants who learnt a particular teachers preference as "rules", then you need to match what they expect, or deliberately not so as to portray a particular message. But if you just want to write, both are fine.

Spelled "roofs", pronounced "rooves".

Spelled "hooves", pronounced "hooves".

I know it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, but that's our bloody stupid language English for you.