PokalvspollTell them apart

Which to use

“Pokal” and “poll” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,146
“Pokal” frequency rank
#38,341
“poll” frequency rank
42487
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pokal poll
Definition prunkvolles Trinkgefäß die Laus

Where the eye mixes Pokal and poll

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Pokal runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against poll's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Pokal
4 ch
poll

Look-alike desk: Pokal vs poll

A purely visual mix-up. Pokal ([poˈkaːl]) and poll ([poʎ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42487, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pokal is recorded at frequency rank #4,146, classified as anoun, pronounced [poˈkaːl]. poll is at rank #38,341, tagged as anoun, pronounced [poʎ].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 42487, this pair ranks #1,447,779 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Pokal vs poll

Shared letters: lop. Private to "Pokal": ak. Private to "poll": -.

"Pokal" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "poll" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Pokal ← opkal · pkoal · poakl · pokall · pokkal · pokla · ppokal
  • poll ← opll · plol · ppoll

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Pokal" and "poll" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([poˈkaːl] versus [poʎ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Pokal" or "poll"?
"Pokal" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,146 in our German list, against #38,341 for "poll". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pokal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "poll" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,447,779 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pokal" and "poll" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "PoC vs poll". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,447,779 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list