Main Difference
The main difference between Groundhog and Hedgehog is that the Groundhog is a species of mammal and Hedgehog is a small spiny mammal.
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Groundhog
The groundhog (Marmota monax), also known as a woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. It was first scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. The groundhog is also referred to as a chuck, wood-shock, groundpig, whistlepig, whistler, thickwood badger, Canada marmot, monax, moonack, weenusk, red monk and, among French Canadians in eastern Canada, siffleux. The name “thickwood badger” was given in the Northwest to distinguish the animal from the prairie badger. Monax (Móonack) is an Algonquian name of the woodchuck, which meant “digger” (cf. Lenape monachgeu). Young groundhogs may be called chucklings. Other marmots, such as the yellow-bellied and hoary marmots, live in rocky and mountainous areas, but the groundhog is a lowland creature. It is found through much of the eastern United States across Canada and into Alaska
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Hedgehog
A hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera, found through parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduction. There are no hedgehogs native to Australia, and no living species native to the Americas (the extinct genus Amphechinus was once present in North America). Hedgehogs share distant ancestry with shrews (family Soricidae), with gymnures possibly being the intermediate link, and have changed little over the last 15 million years. Like many of the first mammals, they have adapted to a nocturnal way of life. Hedgehogs’ spiny protection resembles that of the unrelated porcupines, which are rodents, and echidnas, a type of monotreme.
The name hedgehog came into use around the year 1450, derived from the Middle English heyghoge, from heyg, hegge (“hedge”), because it frequents hedgerows, and hoge, hogge (“hog”), from its piglike snout. Other names include urchin, hedgepig and furze-pig. The collective noun for a group of hedgehogs is array.
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Groundhog (noun)
A red-brown marmot, ver=160928, native to North America.
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Groundhog (noun)
The aardvark.
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Hedgehog (noun)
A small mammal, of the family Erinaceidae or subfamily Erinaceinae (pl=s, the latter characterized by their spiny back and often by the habit of rolling up into a ball when attacked.)
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Hedgehog (noun)
Any of several spiny mammals, such as the porcupine, that are similar to the hedgehog.
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Hedgehog (noun)
A type of moveable military barricade made from crossed logs or steel bars, laced with barbed wire, used to damage or impede tanks and vehicles; Czech hedgehog.
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Hedgehog (noun)
A spigot mortar-type of depth charge weapon from World War II that simultaneously fires a number of explosives into the water to create a pattern of underwater explosions intended to attack submerged submarines.
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Hedgehog (noun)
A type of chocolate cake (or slice), somewhat similar to an American brownie.
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Hedgehog (noun)
A form of dredging machine.
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Hedgehog (noun)
Certain flowering plants with parts resembling a member of family Erinaceidae
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Hedgehog (noun)
, the pods of which are armed with short spines.
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Hedgehog (noun)
A kind of electrical transformer with open magnetic circuit, the ends of the iron wire core being turned outward and presenting a bristling appearance.
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Hedgehog (noun)
A way of serving food at a party, consisting of a half melon or potato etc. with individual cocktail sticks of cheese and pineapple stuck into it.
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Hedgehog (verb)
To make use of a hedgehog barricade as a defensive maneuver.
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Hedgehog (verb)
To array with spiky projections like the quills of a hedgehog.
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Hedgehog (verb)
To curl up into a defensive ball.
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Groundhog (noun)
another term for woodchuck