hang out= to relax I'm hanging out with my friends = I'm relaxing/chilling with my friends. (You could say hang out even if you and your friends were chatting with one another or playing video games, it just means that you and your friends are relaxing and doing something which you all enjoy and whatever activity you are doing it isn't strenuous.) hang around can mean two things I have to hang around for an hour after school and wait for my mother to collect me. Hang around in this sense means that you have to wait around school for an hour until your mother is ready to collect you. hang around can also mean to frequent the company of someone. Ex. I hang around with my brother and his friends a lot. This means that you spend a lot of time with your brother and his friends. Both hang around and hang out are similar, I hope I have outlined the differences and you now understand.